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Hormones and Behavior > Stress > Flashcards

Stress Flashcards

1
Q

What is a stressor?

A

Anything that disrupts the physiological balance in an organism
- Environmental: temp changes
- Physical: output of energy vs. input
- Psychological: our typical idea of stress
- Immunological: sick, throws off homeostasis

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2
Q

What is a stress-response?

A

The body’s adaptations designed to aid in its survival in response to a threat or perception of a threat
- Different responses: neuroendocrine, immunological, behavioral

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3
Q

What is the allostatic load?

A

Allostasis: achieving stability through a physiological change in a way that’s predictable
Well-nourished can inhibit allostatic load by preparing in advance

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4
Q

Describe the fight-or-flight response

A

The FAST ARM: Sympathetic NS
(first phase of stress response)
- Occurs almost immediately
- Adrenal medulla
- Catecholamines released
- Adrenaline (epinephrine)
- Noradrenaline (norepinephrine)
- Increase general arousal and increase blood glucose levels

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5
Q

Describe the adrenal activation in stress response

A

The SLOW ARM: the HPA axis
(second phase of stress response)
- Begins within seconds of activation of the fast arm
- adrenal cortex
- Glucocorticoids released
- Cortisol (all mammals except rodents), Corticosterone (rodents, reptiles, birds)
- Also released: prolactin and AVP

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6
Q

What are the 7 acute stress responses?

A
  • Mobilization of energy
  • Increased heart rate and blood pressure
  • Suppression of digestion
  • Suppression of growth
  • Suppression of reproduction
  • Suppression of inflammatory response
  • Analgesia (inability to feel injuries right at time of injury)
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7
Q

What are adaptive benefits to stress responses?

A
  • A bit of stress can lead to better cognition (name of some scientist law)
  • animals running for their lives but also needing to hunt for hunger
  • get us out of sticky situations
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8
Q

When is the stress-response no longer adaptive/beneficial?

A
  • Long term stressor
  • Frequent stressors
  • Psychological stressors
    All can lead to stress-related diseases if prolonged
    it is also maladaptive to get overly stressed in traffic or long lines–this only hurts you
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9
Q

What are the 7 responses to prolonged stress?

A
  • Fatigue, myopathy
  • Hypertension
  • Damaged heart muscle
  • Ulceration
  • Dwarfism, bone decalcification
  • Anovulation, impotency, loss of libido
  • Neural degeration
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10
Q

What did Robert Sapolsky say about why zebras don’t get ulcers?

A

Zebras get to re-set after running for their lives
Humans don’t get to turn it off b/c we have so many constant psychological stressors–> our bodies don’t get to reset

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11
Q

Describe the continuation of acute stress into chronic stress and their implications

A

Acute (minutes to hours):
- Moderate: enhancement
- Intense: suppression
- Traumatic: damage
Chronic (days to months):
- adaptive plasticity
- loss of resilience
Chronic (months to years):
- decline of resilience with age
- vulnerability to permanent damage

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12
Q

Describe the sex differences in stress

A
  • Female rats have higher basal corticosterone (CORT) levels than males–> already have higher baseline level
  • In response to stress, female rats display higher ACTH and CORT levels than males
  • These differences are activated (not organized) by hormones, as ovariectomy in adulthood eliminates the sex difference in HPA axis response (types of stressors are also different btwn sexes)
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13
Q

How is the immune system affected by chronic stress?

A

Basal immunosuppression and decreased immune responsiveness to challenge

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14
Q

How is the heart affected by chronic stress?

A

Basal hypertension, sluggish response to and recovery from stress, pathogenic cholesterol profile

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15
Q

How is the Brain affected by chronic stress?

A

Dendritic atrophy, impaired neurogenesis and synaptic plasticity, enhanced benzodiazepine tone

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16
Q

How is the adrenal gland affected by chronic stress?

A

Elevated basal levels of glucocorticoids, sluggish response to and recovery from stress, feedback resistance

17
Q

What are stress effects on male reproductive functions?

A

Elevated glucocorticoids (GCs) can also suppress: GnRH, LH and T
- T-producing Leydig cells have GC receptors that are important for normal cell growth, metabolism, energy use
- When GCs are elevated for a long period, GC receptors become overwhelmed and T production is stopped
Increased prolactin makes Leydig cells less responsive to LH, so testosterone production is reduced
- the negative feedback mechanisms in the pituitary and hypothalamus are accentuated, so GnRH secretion is likewise reduced

18
Q

How can longterm elevations in epinephrine affect male reproductive functions? (Stress)

A

Can also interfere with reproductive function by interfering with parasympathetic tone – which is necessary to achieve and maintain an erection
Recall that stress activates the sympathetic nervous system, making it increasingly difficult to achieve the parasympathetic component of the nervous system

19
Q

What are the effects of stress on female reproductive function?

A
  • Stress can interfere with the timing of the neuroendocrine events that link receptivity and ovulation (in animal models)
  • Stress can affect or reduce sexual motivation, even in small amounts
  • Persistent, strong stress can interfere with pregnancy and/or lactation if sufficiently severe (more common in animal models)
  • Stress-induced reproductive interference can occur in the cases of environmental stress or energy stress
  • Fasting increases blood GC levels and is considered to be a stressor
20
Q

How does stress affect social dominance?

A

Physiological indicators of stress tend to be state-dependent rather than trait-dependent
- these stress measures are reflective of an animal’s position within the social hierarchy rather than predictive of future social position or individual characteristics
- low-SES individuals report more stress than those in higher SES levels, and are at greater risk of psychopathology, cardiovascular and metabolic disorders, and immune dysfunction
- Differences in coping or resiliency can overcome these risks

21
Q

How does stress affect social behaviors?

A
  • Increased social interactions with higher populations can be stressful
  • Low-ranking female rhesus monkeys in a stable, established hierarchical group have higher levels of CORT than dominant females
  • Low-ranking females in newly formed groups with relatively unstable hierarchies are not more stressed:
    • Females in new groups spend more time engaged in post-aggression reconciliatory behaviors (like grooming) which may help alleviate some of the stress associated with the fighting
22
Q

How can intense stress cause brain damage?

A

In many species, including primates, intense stress can cause brain damage
One example examines captive vervet monkeys, who live in social hierarchies at a primate center in Kenya
- Animals at the top make life miserable for lower ranking animals
- The harassment is so severe that some of the monkeys die at an early age
- When those animals were autopsied, they had enlarged adrenal glands, gastric ulcers, and atrophied neurons in the CA1 region of the hippocampus compared to higher-ranking monkeys

23
Q

How does control factor in stress and coping?

A

As long as there is (even an illusion of) control over the occurrence of a stressful event, stress (and thus glucocorticoid levels) remains low
- animals in 2 chambers, both getting shocked, one animal has a lever to press to reduce shock in both chambers
- Animal with lever has less GC than animal w/out control even if shocks are becoming less

24
Q

How does predictability factor in stress and coping?

A

Unpredicted, and thus unexpected, stressors are more stressful than predicted stressors

25
Q

How does an outlet for frustration factor in stress and coping?

A

If there is an outlet for frustration (a piece of wood to gnaw on or a conspecific to attack), ulceration likelihood and glucocorticoid levels remain low under stress

26
Q

How does social support factor into stress and coping?

A

Other things being equal, isolated animals show stronger stress responses to a stressor than group-housed animals

27
Q

How does personality factor in stress and coping?

A

What is stressful, depends on the goals of the organism (dominance, affiliation) and on genetically determined differences in overall fearfulness

Hormones and Behavior (12 decks)

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