Psychobiology of posttraumatic stress disorder

Abstract

The postraumatic psychobiological stress disorder (PTSD) remains unclear although it is suggested that many systems are implicated . In this article, the PTSD biological aspects are reviewed, providing an exposition of main changes which are taking place in both the hypothalamic – pituitary – adrenal (HPA) and sympathetic nervous system (SNS). There are also some other mechanisms which are involved into human stress response such as thyroid function, neuropeptide Y, substance P and the opiod and glutamatergic system. Finally, we remark some changes which were found in neuroimaging techniques.