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Early life stress and trauma: developmental neuroendocrine aspects of prolonged stress system dysregulation

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Abstract

Experience of early life stress (ELS) and trauma is highly prevalent in the general population and has a high public health impact, as it can trigger a health-related risk cascade and lead to impaired homeostatic balance and elevated cacostatic load even decades later. The prolonged neuropsychobiological impact of ELS can, thus, be conceptualized as a common developmental risk factor for disease associated with increased physical and mental morbidity in later life. ELS during critical periods of brain development with elevated neuroplasticity could exert a programming effect on particular neuronal networks related to the stress response and lead to enduring neuroendocrine alterations, i.e., hyper- or hypoactivation of the stress system, associated with adult hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis and glucocorticoid signaling dysregulation. This paper reviews the pathophysiology of the human stress response and provides evidence from human research on the most acknowledged stress axis-related neuroendocrine pathways exerting the enduring adverse effects of ELS and mediating the cumulative long-term risk of disease vulnerability in adulthood.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry, Division of Neurosciences, School of Medicine, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece

    Agorastos Agorastos

  2. Thessaloniki General Hospital “G. Papanicolaou”, Psychiatric Hospital of Thessaloniki, Lagkada Str. 196, Stavroupoli, 56430, Thessaloniki, Greece

    Agorastos Agorastos

  3. Unit of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics, First Department of Pediatrics, School of Medicine, “Aghia Sophia” Children’s Hospital, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece

    Panagiota Pervanidou & George P. Chrousos

  4. Department of Child Psychiatry, School of Medicine, “Aghia Sophia” Children’s Hospital, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece

    Gerasimos Kolaitis

Authors
  1. Agorastos Agorastos
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  2. Panagiota Pervanidou
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  3. George P. Chrousos
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  4. Gerasimos Kolaitis
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Contributions

AA and PP managed all the literature searches. AA wrote the first draft of the paper. GPC, PP, and GK revised the draft for important intellectual content. All authors have contributed to, read, and approved the final version of the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Agorastos Agorastos.

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Agorastos, A., Pervanidou, P., Chrousos, G.P. et al. Early life stress and trauma: developmental neuroendocrine aspects of prolonged stress system dysregulation. Hormones 17, 507–520 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42000-018-0065-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s42000-018-0065-x

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