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出典(authority):フリー百科事典『ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』「2012/04/05 16:56:02」(JST)

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Neuroendocrinology is the study of the extensive interactions between the nervous system and the endocrine system, including the biological features of the cells that participate, and how they functionally communicate. Neuroendocrinology arose from the recognition that the brain, especially the hypothalamus, controls secretion of pituitary gland hormones, and has subsequently expanded to investigate numerous interconnections of the endocrine and nervous systems.

Pioneers

Ernst and Berta Scharrer (1906-1995), of the University of Munich, and a professor at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine co-founded the field of neuroendocrinology with their initial observations and proposals concerning neuropeptides.

Geoffrey Harris^[1] (1913-1971) is considered by many to be the "father" of neuroendocrinology. Geoffrey Harris, the Dr. Lee's Professor of Anatomy at Oxford University is credited with showing that the anterior pituitary gland of mammals is regulated by factors secreted by hypothalamic neurons into the hypothalamohypophysial portal circulation. By contrast, the hormones of the posterior pituitary gland are secreted into the systemic circulation directly from the nerve endings of hypothalamic neurons.

The first of these factors to be identified are thyrotropin-releasing hormone (TRH) and gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH). TRH is a small peptide that stimulates the secretion of thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH); GnRH (also called luteinising hormone-releasing hormone, LHRH) stimulates the secretion of luteinizing hormone and follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH).

Roger Guillemin, a medical student of Faculté de Médecine of Lyon and Andrew W. Schally of Tulane University isolated these factors from the hypothalamus of sheep and pigs, and then identified their structures. Guillemin and Schally were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine in 1977 for their contributions to understanding "the peptide hormone production of the brain."

In 1952, Andor Szentivanyi of the University of South Florida and Geza Filipp wrote the world's first research paper showing how neural control of immunity takes place through the hypothalamus.^[2]

Hypothalamus

The endocrine system consists of numerous glands throughout the body that produce and secrete hormones of diverse chemical structure, including peptides, steroids, and neuroamines. Collectively, hormones regulate many physiological processes.

Oxytocin and vasopressin/anti-diuretic hormone, the two peptide hormones of the posterior pituitary gland (the neurohypophysis), are secreted from the nerve endings of magnocellular neurosecretory neurons into the systemic circulation. The cell bodies of these oxytocin and vasopressin neurons are in the paraventricular nucleus and supraoptic nucleus, respectively, and the electrical activity of these neurons is regulated by afferent synaptic inputs from other brain regions. By contrast, the hormones of the anterior pituitary gland (the adenohypophysis) are secreted from endocrine cells that, in mammals, are not directly innervated, yet the secretion of these hormones (adrenocorticotrophic hormone (ACTH), luteinizing hormone (LH), follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH), prolactin and growth hormone) remains under the control of the brain. The brain controls the anterior pituitary gland by releasing factors and release-inhibiting factors; these are blood-borne substances released by hypothalamic neurons into blood vessels at the base of the brain, at the median eminence. These vessels, the hypothalamo-hypophysial portal vessels, carry the hypothalamic factors to the adenohypophysis, where they bind to specific receptors on the surface of the hormone-producing cells.

For example, the secretion of growth hormone is controlled by two neuroendocrine systems: the growth hormone-releasing hormone (GHRH) neurons and the somatostatin neurons, which stimulate and inhibit GH secretion, respectively. The GHRH neurones are located in the arcuate nucleus of the hypothalamus, whereas the somatostatin cells involved in growth hormone regulation are in the periventricular nucleus. These two neuronal systems project axons to the median eminence, where they release their peptides into portal blood vessels for transport to the anterior pituitary. Growth hormone is secreted in pulses, which arise from alternating episodes of GHRH release and somatostatin release, which may reflect neuronal interactions between the GHRH and somatostatin cells, and negative feedback from growth hormone.

These systems are of great interest to both physiologists and neuroscientists for a variety of reasons. First, neuroendocrine systems control reproduction in all its aspects, from bonding to sexual behavior. They control spermatogenesis and the ovarian cycle, parturition, lactation, and maternal behaviour. They control the body's response to stress and infection. They regulate the body's metabolism, influencing eating and drinking behaviour, and influence how energy intake is utilised, that is, how fat is metabolized. They influence and regulate mood, body fluid and electrolyte homeostasis, and blood pressure. Therefore, essential in gaining understanding of the issues at the core of many of today's health concerns is to understand the neuroendocrine system.

Second, the neurons of the neuroendocrine system are large; they are mini factories for producing secretory products; their nerve terminal are large and organised in coherent terminal fields; their output can often be measured easily in the blood; and what these neurons do and what stimuli they respond to are readily open to hypothesis and experiment. Hence, neuroendocrine neurons are good "model systems" for studying general questions, like "how does a neuron regulate the synthesis, packaging, and secretion of its product?" and "how is information encoded in electrical activity?"

Modern scope

Today, neuroendocrinology embraces a wide range of topics that arose directly or indirectly from the core concept of neuroendocrine neurons. Neuroendocrine neurones control the gonads, whose steroids, in turn, influence the brain, as do corticosteroids secreted from the adrenal gland under the influence of ACTH. The study of these feedbacks became the province of neuroendocrinologists. The peptides secreted by hypothalamic neuroendocrine neurons into the blood proved to be released also into the brain, and the central actions often appeared to complement the peripheral actions. So understanding these central actions also became the province of neuroendocrinologists, sometimes even when these peptides cropped up in quite different parts of the brain that appeared to serve functions unrelated to endocrine regulation. Neuroendocrine neurons were discovered in the peripheral nervous system, regulating, for instance, digestion. The cells in the adrenal medulla that release adrenaline and noradrenaline proved to have properties between endocrine cells and neurons, and proved to be outstanding model systems for instance for the study of the molecular mechanisms of exocytosis. And these, too, have become, by extension, neuroendocrine systems.

Neuroendocrine systems have been important to our understanding of many basic principles in neuroscience and physiology, for instance, our understanding of stimulus-secretion coupling. The origins and significance of patterning in neuroendocrine secretion are still dominant themes in neuroendocrinology today.

Neuroendocrinology is also used as an integral part of understanding and treating neurobiological brain disorders. One example is the augmentation of the treatment of mood symptoms with thyroid hormone.^[3] Another is the finding of a Transthyretin (Thyroxine transport) problem in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of some patients diagnosed with schizophrenia.^[4]

Neuro-endocrine societies

See also: European_Society_of_Endocrinology#Pan-European_sub-specialist_endocrine_societies

International Neuroendocrine Federation [1]
European Neuroendocrine Association
American Neuroendocrine Society [2]
British Society for Neuroendocrinology [3]
La Societe de Neuroendocrinologie [4]
European Neuroendocrine Association [5]
Japan Neuroendocrine Society [6]
Society for Behavioral Neuroendocrinology

Neuroendocrine journals

Stress: The International Journal on the Biology of Stress [7] an official Journal of the International Neuroendocrine Federation
Journal of Neuroendocrinology
Neuro-endocrinology [8] (Karger)
Frontiers in Neuroendocrinology [9] (Academic Press)
Hormones and Behavior [10] (Academic Press)
Neuroendocrinology Letters [11] (Maghira and Maas Publications)

References

^ http://www.dafml.unito.it/anatomy/panzica/neuroendo/articolipdf/1997Raisman.pdf
^ http://home.cc.umanitoba.ca/~berczii/dr_szentivanyi_memorial/szentivanyi_memorial.htm
^ Geracioti TD (2006). "Identifying Hypothyroidism's Psychiatric Presentations". Current Psychiatry 5 (11): 98–117. http://www.jfponline.com/Pages.asp?AID=4570.
^ Huang JT, Leweke FM, Oxley D, et al. (2006). "Disease Biomarkers in Cerebrospinal Fluid of Patients with First-Onset Psychosis". PLoS Med. 3 (11): e428. doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.0030428. PMC 1630717. PMID 17090210. http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?tool=pmcentrez&artid=1630717.

Millington G, Buckingham JC (1992). "Thymic peptides and neuroendocrine-immune communication". J. Endocrinol. 133 (2): 163–8. doi:10.1677/joe.0.1330163. PMID 1613418.

English Journal

Oral contraceptive pill use and menstrual cycle phase are associated with altered resting state functional connectivity.

Petersen N1, Kilpatrick LA2, Goharzad A3, Cahill L3.Author information 1Center for the Neurobiology of Learning and Memory, University of California-Irvine, Irvine, CA 92697, USA. Electronic address: nertman@uci.edu.2Gail and Gerard Oppenheimer Family Center for the Neurobiology of Stress, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California-Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA. Electronic address: lisa@lisakilpatrick.com.3Center for the Neurobiology of Learning and Memory, University of California-Irvine, Irvine, CA 92697, USA.AbstractAt rest, brain activity can be characterized not by an absence of organized activity but instead by spatially and temporally correlated patterns of activity. In this experiment, we investigated whether and to what extent resting state functional connectivity is modulated by sex hormones in women, both across the menstrual cycle and when altered by oral contraceptive pills. Sex hormones have been shown to have important effects on task-related activity, but few studies have investigated the extent to which they can influence the behavior of functional networks at rest. These hormones are dramatically altered by the use of hormonal contraception, which is used by approximately 100million women worldwide. However, potential cognitive side effects of hormonal contraception have been given little attention. Here, we collected resting state data for naturally-cycling women (n=45) and women using combined oral contraceptive pills (n=46) and evaluated the differences in resting state activity between these two groups using independent component analysis. We found that in the default mode network and in a network associated with executive control, resting state dynamics were altered both by the menstrual cycle and by oral contraceptive use. Specifically, the connectivity of the left angular gyrus, the left middle frontal gyrus, and the anterior cingulate cortex were different between groups. Because the anterior cingulate cortex and left middle frontal gyrus are important for higher-order cognitive and emotional processing, including conflict monitoring, changes in the relationship of these structures to the functional networks with which they interact may have important consequences for attention, affect, and/or emotion regulation.
NeuroImage.Neuroimage.2014 Apr 15;90:24-32. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2013.12.016. Epub 2013 Dec 21.
At rest, brain activity can be characterized not by an absence of organized activity but instead by spatially and temporally correlated patterns of activity. In this experiment, we investigated whether and to what extent resting state functional connectivity is modulated by sex hormones in women, bo
PMID 24365676

DNA memories of early social life.

Hoffmann A1, Spengler D2.Author information 1Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry, Molecular Neuroendocrinology, Kraepelinstr. 2-10, D-80804 Munich, Germany. Electronic address: hoffmann@mpipsykl.mpg.de.2Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry, Molecular Neuroendocrinology, Kraepelinstr. 2-10, D-80804 Munich, Germany. Electronic address: spengler@mpipsykl.mpg.de.AbstractThe foundations of brain architecture are established early in life through a continuous series of dynamic interactions in which environmental conditions and personal experiences have a significant impact on how genetic predispositions are expressed. New scientific research shows that early social experiences can actually influence how genes are expressed. Thus, the old-school concepts that genes are "chiseled in stone" or that they alone determine development have been disproven. The discovery of the epigenome provides an explanation, at the molecular level, for why and how early positive and negative social experiences give rise to a biological memory that can have lifelong impacts. Signatures associated with the epigenome can be temporary or permanent, affect multiple organ systems, and increase the risk not only for poor physical and mental health outcomes but also for impairments in future learning capacity and behavior. Here, we focus on recent evidence for a role of epigenetic DNA modifications as a potential mechanism that explains how early social life experiences become embedded in the circuitry of the developing brain and are associated with lifelong consequences. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled: Epigenetics in Brain Function.
Neuroscience.Neuroscience.2014 Apr 4;264C:64-75. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroscience.2012.04.003. Epub 2012 May 7.
The foundations of brain architecture are established early in life through a continuous series of dynamic interactions in which environmental conditions and personal experiences have a significant impact on how genetic predispositions are expressed. New scientific research shows that early social e
PMID 22575695

Global warming and environmental contaminants in aquatic organisms: the need of the etho-toxicology approach.

Manciocco A1, Calamandrei G2, Alleva E3.Author information 1Institute of Cognitive Sciences and Technologies, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Via Ulisse Aldrovandi 16/b, 00197 Rome, Italy. Electronic address: arianna.manciocco@cnr.it.2Neurotoxicology and Neuroendocrinology Section, Department of Cell Biology and Neuroscience, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, viale Regina Elena 299, 00161 Rome, Italy.3Behavioural Neuroscience Section, Department of Cell Biology and Neuroscience, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, viale Regina Elena 299, 00161 Rome, Italy.AbstractEnvironmental contaminants are associated with a wide spectrum of pathological effects. Temperature increase affects ambient distribution and toxicity of these chemicals in the water environment, representing a potentially emerging problem for aquatic species with short-, medium- and long-term repercussions on human health through the food chain. We assessed peer-reviewed literature, including primary studies, review articles and organizational reports available. We focused on studies concerning toxicity of environmental pollutants within a global warming scenario. Existing knowledge on the effects that the increase of water temperature in a contaminated situation has on physiological mechanisms of aquatic organisms is presented. Altogether we consider the potential consequences for the human beings due to fish and shellfish consumption. Finally, we propose an etho-toxicological approach to study the effects of toxicants in conditions of thermal increase, using aquatic organisms as experimental models under laboratory controlled conditions.
Chemosphere.Chemosphere.2014 Apr;100:1-7. doi: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2013.12.072. Epub 2014 Jan 27.
Environmental contaminants are associated with a wide spectrum of pathological effects. Temperature increase affects ambient distribution and toxicity of these chemicals in the water environment, representing a potentially emerging problem for aquatic species with short-, medium- and long-term reper
PMID 24480426

Japanese Journal

Oxytocin receptor-expressing neurons and nuclei in the regulation of social behaviors (Special issue : proceedings of parvo- and magnocellular symposium in Sendai : creating a new stream of neuroendocrinology)

Interdisciplinary Information Sciences 21(3), 283-288, 2015-09
NAID 110009966538

Molecular regulation of corticotropin-releasing hormone gene expression in parvocellular neurons of the hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus (Special issue : proceedings of parvo- and magnocellular symposium in Sendai : creating a new stream of neuroendocrinology)

Interdisciplinary Information Sciences 21(3), 273-282, 2015-09
NAID 110009966537

Transcriptional regulation of vasopressin gene : update in 2015 (Special issue : proceedings of parvo- and magnocellular symposium in Sendai : creating a new stream of neuroendocrinology)