Functional Cross‐Talk Between the Hypothalamic‐Pituitary‐Gonadal and ‐Adrenal Axes

Under normal conditions, the adrenal glucocorticoids, the endproduct of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, provide a frontline of defence against threats to homeostasis (i.e. stress). On the other hand, chronic HPA drive and glucocorticoid hypersecretion have been implicated in the pathogenesis of several forms of systemic, neurodegenerative and affective disorders. The HPA axis is subject to gonadal influence, indicated by sex differences in basal and stress HPA function and neuropathologies associated with HPA dysfunction. Functional cross-talk between the gonadal and adrenal axes is due in large part to the interactive effects of sex steroids and glucocorticoids, explaining perhaps why several…