Metabolic syndrome and the endocrine stress system.
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.
Lamounier-Zepter
V
V
Medical Clinic III, University of Dresden, Dresden, Germany. valaria.zepter@uniklinikum-dresden.de
Ehrhart-Bornstein
M
M
Bornstein
S R
SR
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