Multiple Organ Failure as an Endocrine-Mediated Response to Chronic Stress via the HypothalamoPituitary Adrenal (HPA) axis
Homeostasis is the coordinated system of physiological and biochemical processes which regulate and maintain most of the steady states in the organism, attempting to keep the internal conditions relatively constant; in a state of equilibrium. This concept is essential to the understanding of stress. In everyday life, there are numerous factors that recurrently disrupt homeostasis, such as, environmental factors or internal and external stimuli. This coordinated system then works to keep the organism in an incessant flux around particular variables that could be considered optimal conditions for it to live and survive. Any deviation relatively far from the optimal equilibrium can be perceived as Stress. The organism’s response to stress involves a number of processes which strive to restore normal body conditions. This restoration consumes a lot of energy and resources, putting a lot of strain on the body, but seeks to focus it to repress the immediate problem; the Fight-or-Flight Response. One such process to overcome chronic stress is multiple organ failure caused by the organism's own system.
Physiological or biological stress is an organism's response to a stressor such as an environmental condition or a stimulus. Stress is a body's method of reacting to a challenge. According to the stressful event, the body's way to respond to stress is by sympathetic nervous system activation which results in the fight-or-flight response. The body cannot keep this state for long periods of time, afterwards the parasympathetic system returns the body's physiological conditions to normal. In humans, stress typically describes a negative condition or a positive condition that can have an impact on a person's mental and physical well-being.
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HypothalamoPituatary Adrenal Axis
Endocrine Response to Stress
Multiple Organ Failure
Conclusion
References
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