Affiliations: Institute of Experimental Medicine NWB RAMS, Saint-Petersburg, Russia | Saint-Petersburg State University, Saint-Petersburg, Russia
Note: [] Correspondence to: S.V. Perekrest, Institute of Experimental Medicine NWB RAMS, 197376 Acad. Pavlova street, 12. Saint-Petersburg, Russia. Tel.: +7 812 2340764; Fax: +7 812 2349493; E-mail: [email protected]
Abstract: The present review is dedicated to the problem of specificity of central nervous system (CNS) response to different destabilizing stimuli. It concerns some aspects of hypothalamic neuron involvement in central mechanisms of brain reactions to various stimulants. The effects of stress and antigenic stimulation on the hypothalamus are reviewed. Previously it was known that the brain responds specifically to various patterns of stimuli, which depends on the nature and intensity of the stimulus. Antigens have a special place amongst the stimuli applied to the brain. The effects of antigen depend on their biochemical nature though they also are considered to be stress factors.