Lateralized brain and neuroendocrine dysregulation as response to traumatic stress.

Stressful life events cause a variety of conditions affecting cerebral and neuroendocrine functions. Repeated stressful events also may determine sensitization leading to an increase in responsiveness to stress stimuli. Recent findings suggest that cognitive and emotional dysregulation related to traumatic stress likely is linked to defective inhibitory functions that may also lead to temporo-limbic seizure-like activity, increased vulnerability to stressors, and dysregulated asymmetry in neural activity patterns that may influence interhemispheric dissociation. Together recent data show that dysregulation in the brain asymmetry and mental functioning may be caused by stress-related activation that can influence also the peripheral endocrine glands through the HPA axis and other pathways connecting the CNS and the target endocrine glands.