Sexual dimorphism of stress response and immune/ inflammatory reaction: the corticotropin releasing hormone perspective.
THIS REVIEW HIGLGHTS KEY ASPECTS OF CORTICOTROPIN RELEASING HORMONE (CRH) BIOLOGY OF POTENTIAL RELEVANCE TO THE SEXUAL DIMORPHISM OF THE STRESS RESPONSE AND IMMUNE/INFLAMMATORY REACTION, AND INTRODUCES TWO IMPORTANT NEW CONCEPTS BASED ON THE REGULATORY POTENTIAL OF THE HUMAN (H) CRH GENE: (1) a proposed mechanism to account for the tissue-specific antithetical responses of hCRH gene expression to glucocorticolds, that may also explain the frequently observed antithetical effects of chronic glucocorticoid administration in clinical practice and (2) a heuristic diagram to illustrate the proposed modulation of the stress response and immune/ inflammatory reaction by steroid hormones, from the perspective of the CRH system.
Vamvakopoulos
N V
NV
Department of Biology-Genetics University of Thessaly Medical School Larisa 412 22 Greece.