2021 Volume 58 Issue 1 Pages 1-9
It is no exaggeration to say that autonomic neuroscience is the science of stress. There are two types of stress: external and internal environmental stress. Cell membranes of living organisms contain bio-sensors detecting environmental stress. The security gates of the stress center (windows to the brain) are the hypothalamus and periventricular organs. Stress signaling pathways include neural, humoral, and cell signaling control systems. The CREB (cyclic AMP response element binding protein) and CRTC (CREB-regulated transcription coactivator) are the lifeline of the highest command center of stress responses. Disturbance of the hypothalamus, which physiologically protects the body from stress, causes a variety of symptoms, including sleep disorders, autonomic visceral symptoms, emotional and memory disorders, sensory sensitivity, and gait disturbance (hypothalamic syndrome or circumventricular organs dysregulation syndrome). Controlling the stress response leads to prevention of telomere damage, aging, carcinogenesis, and frailty. On the other hand, internal environmental stresses, such as chronic kidney disease, attack the coupon of life, telomeres, inducing shortened life span and carcinogenesis. Let me give you an example. There are approaches to pain and eating disorders from a variety of academic fields; immunology, metabolic endocrinology, psychosomatic medicine (behavioral therapy), neurology, psychiatry, rehabilitation medicine, and imaging neuroscience. However, I can't deny the impression that the blind people are stroking an elephant. I am convinced that autonomic neuroscience is a comprehensive science that can take these approaches from basic and clinical perspectives. We look forward to a renaissance of autonomic neuroscience in the first year of autonomic neuroscience.
