Allostasis, Homeostasis, and the Costs of Physiological Adaptation

Edited by Jay Schulkin

Georgetown University, Washington DC

Hardback

 (ISBN-13: 9780521811415 | ISBN-10: 0521811414)

The concept of homeostasis, the maintenance of the internal physiological environment of an organism within tolerable limits, is well established in medicine and physiology. In contrast, allostasis is a relatively new idea of ‘viability through change’. With allostatic regulation by cephalic involvement, the body adapts to potentially diverse and dangerous situations through the activation of neural, hormonal, or immunological mechanisms. Allostasis explains how regulatory events maintain organismic viability, or not, in diverse contexts with varying set points of bodily needs and competing motivations. This book introduces the concept of allostasis and sets it alongside traditional views of homeostasis. It addresses basic regulatory systems and examines the behavior of bodily regulation under duress. The basic concepts of physiological homeostasis are integrated with disorders like depression, stress, anxiety and addiction. It will therefore appeal to graduate students, medical students and researchers working in physiology, epidemiology, endocrinology, neuroendocrinology, neuroscience, and psychology.

• The first edited volume to address the concept of allostasis • Introduces the relatively new concept of allostasis while placing it alongside the more established idea of homeostasis • Integrates the concepts of physiological homeostasis with disorders like depression, stress, anxiety, and addiction

Contents

1. Principles of allostasis: optimal design, predictive regulation, pathophysiology and rational therapeutics Peter Sterling;

2. Protection and damaging effects of the mediators of stress and adaptation: allostasis and allostatic load Bruce S. McEwen;

3. Merging of the homeostatic theory with the concept of allostatic load David S. Goldstein;

4. Operationalizing allostatic load Burton Singer, Carol D. Ryff and Teresa Seeman;

5. Drug addiction and allostasis George F. Koob and Michael LeMoal;

6. Adaptive fear and the pathology of anxiety and depression: an allostatic framework Jeffrey B. Rosen and Jay Schulkin;

7. A chronobiological perspective on allostasis and its application to shift work Ziad Boulos and Alan M. Rosenwasser;

8. Allostatic load and life cycles: implications for neuroendocrine control mechanisms John C. Wingfield;

9. Commentary: viability as opposed to stability: an evolutionary perspective on physiological regulation Michael L. Power.

Review

'This book … is very welcome as it goes a good way towards introducing readers of all levels to the concept … it is well balanced … this book will be an important text for those who want to know more.' Biologist

Contributors

Peter Sterling, Bruce S. McEwen, David S. Goldstein, Burton Singer, Carol D. Ryff, Teresa Seeman, George F. Koob, Michael LeMoal, Jeffrey B. Rosen, Jay Schulkin, Ziad Boulos, Alan M. Rosenwasser, John C. Wingfield, Michael L. Power