Mathilakath M Vijayan

1 Introduction The hypothalamus–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis activation in response to a stressor perception and the release of glucocorticoids (GCs) is a key adaptive response that allows animals to reestablish homeostasis (1, 2).

1 INTRODUCTION The corticosteroid stress axis is a highly conserved and critical part of the adaptive stress response.1, 2 Upon stressor perception, the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis in mammals and the analogous hypothalamic–pituitary–interrenal (HPI) axis in teleosts is activated, leading to the synthesis and release of corticosteroids which assists in re-establishing homeostasis.1, 3 The secretion of corticotropin-releasing hormone (Crh) from the hypothalamus is the proximal...

1 INTRODUCTION The activation of the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis is a highly conserved response to stress in vertebrates leading to the production of glucocorticoids (GCs) (Charmandari et al., 2005; Nicolaides et al., 2015).