title: Metabolic syndrome and the endocrine stress system.
abstract: Obesity constitutes one of the most serious public health problems, with rapidly increasing prevalence in western societies. Consequently, metabolic syndrome, a condition strongly associated with obesity, has become an epidemic problem. Recent studies have implicated chronic alterations to the stress system as playing a major role in the metabolic syndrome's pathophysiology. This brief review discusses the role of stress and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis dysfunction in the development of metabolic syndrome as well as new insights into the crosstalk between adipose tissue and endocrine stress system.
authors.affiliation: Medical Clinic III, University of Dresden, Dresden, Germany. valaria.zepter@uniklinikum-dresden.de
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Lamounier-Zepter
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ehrhart-Bornstein
authors.forename: S R
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Bornstein
mesh_terms: D017667:Adipocytes / Q000473:pathology; D000273:Adipose Tissue / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D000818:Animals; D004703:Endocrine System / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006801:Humans; D007030:Hypothalamo-Hypophyseal System / Q000503:physiopathology; D024821:Metabolic Syndrome / Q000503:physiopathology*; D010913:Pituitary-Adrenal System / Q000503:physiopathology