Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal (HPA) Axis
The Hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis is a chain of endocrine structures that are activated during the body's response to stressors of various sorts. It often shows increased activation in depressed people, and drugs that reduce its activity are sometimes effective in reducing symptoms. The HPA influences many parts of the brain, including the Raphe nuclei.
Read more about this topic: Biology Of Depression
Famous quotes containing the word axis:
“A book is not an autonomous entity: it is a relation, an axis of innumerable relations. One literature differs from another, be it earlier or later, not because of the texts but because of the way they are read: if I could read any page from the present time—this one, for instance—as it will be read in the year 2000, I would know what the literature of the year 2000 would be like.”
—Jorge Luis Borges (1899–1986)