The role of corticotropin-releasing factor-norepinephrine systems in mediating the effects of early experience on the development of behavioral and endocrine responses to stress

Naturally occurring variations in maternal care in early postnatal life are associated with the development of individual differences in behavioral an d hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal responses to stress in the rat. These effe cts appear to be mediated by the influence of maternal licking and grooming on the development of central corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF) systems , which regulate the expression of behavioral, endocrine, and autonomic res ponses to stress through activation of forebrain noradrenergic systems. The se findings provide a neurobiologic basis for the observed relationship bet ween early life events and health in adulthood. In more recent studies, we explored the behavioral transmission of individual differences in stress re activity, and thus, vulnerability to stress-induced illness, across generat ions. (C) 1999 Society of Biological Psychiatry.