THE EVOLUTION OF STRESS CONCEPTION: FROM HANS SELYE TO MODERN ACHIEVEMENTS

Abstract

The year of 2016 is unusual for medical scientifi c society because of 80th anniversary of the incipience of Hans Selye (1907-1982) “general adaptation syndrome”, later renamed into “stress response”. Scientifi c group explored the mechanism of hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis functioning and noticed some morphological changes during biological stress in the body – the triad of enlarged adrenal glands, lymph node and thymic atrophy, gastric erosions and ulcers. Selye supposed phenomenon “stress” to be a non-specifi c neuroendocrine reaction of the body on two and more stressors of different nature. So-called ‘Einstein of biomedical research’ elaborated the nomenclature and classifi cation of steroid hormones and also revealed the mechanisms of eustress and distress realization. The article is dedicated to development of stress conception that attracts more and more attention in the 21st century because of new life challenges, modern diagnostic capabilities, hypothesis of trans-stress and necessity to create physiologically reasonable anti-stress techniques. Although repeated nomination of Hans Selye on the Nobel Prize (1949-1953) was not successful, medical scientifi c society considers Selye the celebrity of the whole world that predetermined signifi cant scientifi c progress.

Keywords

• stress, eustress, distress, hans selye, roger guillemin, physiology, history of medicine, adaptation