Study Guide - Unit 3

PSYC 4092/5092, Spring 2006

Stress

1. What are some physiological symptoms of stress?

2. What are some psychological symptoms of stress?

3. What are some potential pathological consequences of chronic stress?

4. According to some stress researchers, what is the relationship between "stress", "stressor" and the "stress response"?

*5. Why is this terminology “circular”?

6. Describe how Claude Bernard's notion of "internal milieu" and Walter Cannon's notion of "homeostasis" may relate to a notion of "stress".

*7. Distinguish between physical stressors and psychological stressors, and give an example of each.

8. What are 4 conditions that are effective "psychological" stressors?

*9. Why may it be advantageous to have a psychological (emotional) stress response as well as a physiological stress response?

10. Why is the stress response considered to be "non specific"?

11. Why may it be advantageous to have a triggering of a physiological stress response by "psychological" factors that by themselves do not produce physical harm or disruption of homeostasis?

*12. True or False. Probably the greatest ill effect of stress on our health results not from frequently triggering a stress-response, but from not efficiently turning off a stress response after it has been triggered.

13. What are the two primary physiological stress response systems?

14. Compare and contrast the Sympathetic Nervous System (SNS) and the Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal (HPA) axis in terms of: a) a key historical proponent, b) their key function, c) their effector hormone(s), d) their speed of onset and duration of action.

Autonomic Nervous System

1. Is the SNS primarily a "motor" system, a "sensory" system, or both?

2. What are the 2 branches of the autonomic nervous system (ANS)?

3. In the context of the ANS, what are preganglionic neurons and postganglionic neurons?

4. Compare and contrast the SNS and the parasympathetic nervous system (PSNS) in terms of the location of the cell bodies, location of the axon terminals, and relative length of the axons of the preganglionic and postganglionic neurons.

5. What neurotransmitters are released by preganglionic and postganglionic neurons of the PSNS and SNS?

6. What are two different types of cholinergic receptors?

7. What are five different types of adrenergic receptors?

8. Which type of cholinergic receptor is located on the dendrites and cell body of postganglionic neurons?

9. Which type of cholinergic receptor is located on PSNS target organs?

10. Where are adrenergic receptors located?

11. Is the vagus nerve part of the SNS or the PSNS?

12. Describe how the effects of the SNS on the following target organs may be beneficial during times of emergency ("fight or flight"): eye, heart, arterioles, bronchial muscle, piloerectors, G.I. tract.

13. What is the dual effect of the SNS and the PSNS on male erection and ejaculation?

14. How may stress contribute to sexual dysfunction?

15. What is the endocrine component of the SNS?

16. What are chromaffin cells?

17. Is the hormonal secretion of epinephrine (adrenaline) under direct hormonal or neural control? Elaborate.

18. Can norepinephrine be both a neurotransmitter and a hormone?

19. What are some general effects of epinephrine on the body?

20. Why does epinephrine have a different profile of hormonal effects on the body than does norepinephrine?

21. Why is Primatene mist effective in treating asthma?

22. Which target organ has more beta-2 adrenergic receptors, heart or lung?

23. What does the James-Lange theory of emotion say about the relationship between the physiological stress response and conscious awareness of "stress"?

24. Why are beta-blockers, such as propanolol (Inderal), effective in reducing anxiety or "stage fright"?

25. What is a non-drug method that is effective in reducing anxiety or "stage fright"?

26. Describe a study that supports a role of beta-adrenergic receptor activation in enhanced memory for emotional events.

HPA axis

1.What are glucocorticoids?

2. What were the 3 hallmark symptoms of the General Adaptation Syndrome described by Hans Selye?

3. How does chronic stress lead to adrenal hypertrophy?

4. How does chronic stress lead to thymic involution?

5. How does chronic stress lead to gastric ulcers?

6. What is the function of the thymus "gland"?

8. What role does cortisol normally have in T lymphocyte development?

9. What is the primary endogenous glucocorticoid in humans?

10. What is the primary endogenous glucocorticoid in rats?

11. What cells in the body are targets for cortisol?

12. Why are glucocorticoids used to treat allergies, asthma, rheumatoid arthritis, or tissue transplant recipients?

13. What are the anatomical and hormonal components of the HPA axis?

14. What is the difference between direct and indirect glucocorticoid negative feedback?

15. What is the relative time course and magnitude of glucocorticoid negative feedback effects?

16. What general class of compounds are glucocorticoids made of (e.g. peptide, protein, steroid, amino acid, lipid)?

17. Describe the circadian influence on HPA axis activity.

18. Describe the stress influence on HPA axis activity.

19. What effect does alcohol have on HPA axis activity?

20. What are cytokines?

21. What effect do some cytokines, such as interleukin-1 or tumor necrosis factor have on HPA axis activity?

22. What may be an adaptive function for cytokine effects on HPA axis activity?

23. What basic effects do glucocorticoids have on carbohydrate metabolism, protein metabolism, fat metabolism and the immune system?

24. Distinguish between a "trait marker" and a "state marker" for a psychiatric disorder.

25. What are 2 signs of HPA axis dysregulation present in a large number of depressed individuals?

26. What percent of depressed individuals display symptoms of HPA axis dysregulation?

27. What is dexamethasone?

28. What is the dexamethasone suppression test (DST)?

29. What is the "normal" response to a DST, and what is the hormonal mechanism for that response?

30. What is the abnormal response to a DST present in many depressed individuals?

31. What may be a mechanism for an impaired DST response in depressed individuals?

32. Does stress cause depression?

33. Does HPA axis dysregulation cause depression?

Biological Rhythms

1. Define the following parameters used to describe a biological rhythm: period, peak, nadir, amplitude, frequency, and phase.

2. What is the period for the following rhythms and give a biological example of each: circadian, circalunar, circannual, ultradian, infradian.

3. What is "crepuscular" pattern of activity?

4. What is a Zeitgeber? Give an example of an endogenous and an exogenous zeitgeber.

5. How can we test whether a biological rhythm is based on an endogenous zeitgeber?

6. What is a "free running" rhythm?

7. What is entrainment?

*8. What may be a biological basis for some people being more of a “morning person” than others?

9. What are 6 characteristics of endogenous "biological clocks"?

10. What are 2 drugs that can increase the circadian period in humans.

11. What are 4 pieces of evidence that the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) of the hypothalamus contains circadian pacemaker cells?

12. Describe how the experiment by Ralph, Foster, Davis and Menaker, reported in Science magazine in 1990, was instrumental in establishing that in hamsters the SCN contained circadian pacemaker cells.

13. Describe how an SCN can be "transplanted" from one hamster into another hamster.

14. What is melatonin?

15. Where is melatonin produced?

16. What neurotransmitter is melatonin chemically related to?

17. What are some target tissues for melatonin?

*18. Describe the general life-time secretion pattern of melatonin in humans.

19. What controls the secretion of melatonin?

20. What is the circadian pattern of melatonin secretion in rodents and humans?

21. How does light suppress melatonin secretion?

*22. What is melanopsin?

23. Compare hamsters and humans in terms of their sensitivity to the suppressive effects of light on melatonin secretion.

*24. Approximately how much can the human endogenous circadian “clock” shift from one day to the next?

*25. What is a person’s subjective night and day?

*26. Describe how you would use light or melatonin exposure to phase advance or phase delay a person’s endogenous clock?

21. What happens to hamsters that are maintained on a constant long-day photoperiod schedule (lights on for > 14 h/day)?

22. What happens to hamsters that are maintained on a constant short-day photoperiod schedule (lights on for < 10 h/day)?

23. What are some symptoms that indicate that a hamster has become refractory to short-day photoperiod?

24. What conditions are required for a hamster to overcome its refractoriness to short-day photoperiod?

25. How can melatonin be used to induce coat thickening, weight loss and gonadal regression in hamsters that are maintained on long-day photoperiods?

26. What effect does melatonin have on negative feedback sensitivity of GnRH neurons to gonadal steroids?

Hormones and Mood

1. What are some symptoms of Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)?

2. Is SAD more common in men or women?

3. At what time of day is exposure to artificial bright light most effective in treating SAD?

4. What is some evidence for dysregulation of melatonin levels in individuals with SAD?

5. What is late luteal phase dysphoric disorder?

6. Is there evidence for differences in hormonal levels between women that experience severe perimenstrual syndrome than women that don't?

7. What are three hormonal treatment strategies for perimenstrual syndrome, and how effective are each one?

8. Does anabolic steroid use affect mood?