Brambilla F
Dipartimento di Scienze Neuropsichiche, Istituto Scientifico Ospedale S. Raffaele, Via Prinetti 29, 201279, Milan, Italy.
Eur J Pharmacol. 2000 Sep 29;405(1-3):341-9. doi: 10.1016/s0014-2999(00)00564-1.
Psychoneuroendocrinology is a branch of neuroscience that developed in the beginning of the last century, which investigates the possibility of a cause-effect link between endocrinopathies and mental disorders - with these studies ending in negative results. Psychoneuroendocrinology was then used as a methodological approach for the investigation of neurotransmitter function, on the basis of the observation that neurotransmitters regulate neurohormone and peripheral hormone secretions. Data were obtained for hypothalamic noradrenergic, serotoninergic, dopaminergic, gabaergic and acetylcholinergic functions, which could not be automatically extended to higher brain centers whose impairments might be etiopathogenetically involved in the development of mental disorders. Future studies should focus on new methodological approaches to brain biochemistry, on investigation of genetic, molecular biology, brain imaging, psychoneuroimmunoendocrinology, neuropeptide and neurosteroid secretion in relation to brain endocrine function in mental diseases.
心理神经内分泌学是神经科学的一个分支，在上世纪初发展起来，它研究内分泌病与精神障碍之间因果联系的可能性——这些研究最终得出了否定结果。基于神经递质调节神经激素和外周激素分泌这一观察结果，心理神经内分泌学随后被用作研究神经递质功能的一种方法。获得了关于下丘脑去甲肾上腺素能、5-羟色胺能、多巴胺能、γ-氨基丁酸能和乙酰胆碱能功能的数据，但这些数据不能自动推广到其功能受损可能在精神障碍发病机制中起病因学作用的高级脑区。未来的研究应侧重于脑生物化学的新方法、与精神疾病脑内分泌功能相关的基因、分子生物学、脑成像、心理神经免疫内分泌学、神经肽和神经甾体分泌的研究。
