Principles of Stress

and Adaptation
Irfannuddin, Hardi Darmawan, Heri Asnawi
Department of Physiology & Biophysic
Block of Homeostatic & Metabolism
Learning Objectives

1. Adaptation as a part of homeostasis

2. Definition and examples of stress and
stressor
3. Definition and example of adaptation
4. Basic principles of adaptation
5. Body responses to stress
6. Factors that influence the body responses
of stress
7. Recovery of stress
Your life is like a sail……
 Stress is like the
wind
 The sail moves
because the wind
 Be careful for the
typhoon..
Introduction
 Do you imagine…..
 What happen to your body if there is no O2
in only a few minutes ?
 What happen to your body if the temperature
of environment is increase to 50C or
decrease to below 0C ?
 Why ?
 Some people still exist on the peak of
Everest mountain ?
 Some people still live while diving in deep
sea in a few minutes with-out O2 ?
Claude Bernard (1870)
The organism is…constructed
in such a fashion that, on the
one hand, there is full
communication between the
external environment and the
‘milieu interieur’, and on
other, that there are
protective functions… holding
living materials in reserve and
maintaining and other
conditions indispensable to
vital activity.
Sickness and death are only a
dislocation or perturbation of
these process
Walter Cannon (1929)
“Harvard physiologist”
Homeostasis
 The actions cells responding to
perturbing stimuli in terms of dynamic
equilibrium and variability, rather than
absolute intracellular constancy.
 Indicate similarity with some variability
rather than sameness
 Body tendency to maintain a steady
state despite external changes
What is stress ?

 The condition of body that out from

homeostatic balance
What is stressor ?

 The influences that throw the body out

of homeostatic balance
 Unpleasant or noxious stimuli

 Disrupt human homeostasis

 Cause physiological responses or

adaptation
Examples of stressor
Externalenvironment
Internal environment
 Heat-cold
 Odor
Sleep
 Food
Hunger
 Water
Thirst
 Hypoxia
Infection
 Noise
Ion imbalance
 Light-darkness
Fear, anxiety
 Trauma/injury
Muscle tension
 Electric shock
Internal clocks
 Physicalemotion
Intense threat
 Bacteria/viruses
Autonomic change
 Psychological
Abstracts though
threat
What is adaptation ?

 Adaptive responses
 Physiological changes that minimize
bodily strain
 The body’s attempt to counteract
stressor and reestablish homeostasis
 The return to non stress conditions
reflects improved bodily function in the
involved organ or system
Type of adaptations

1. Accommodation
2. Acclimation & acclimatization
3. Genetic adaptation
1. Accommodation

 Short term adaptation

 Immediate physiological change in the
sensitivity of a cell or tissue to change
 Example:
 Hormone secretion
 Cardiovascular activity
2. Acclimation & acclimatization

 Intermediate adaptation
 Involve a complex array of adaptive
responses
 Acclimation
 Induced experimentally in an artificial
environment
 Example: exercise training
 Acclimatization
 Induced by exposure of natural environment
 Example: adaptation in high altitude
3. Genetic adaptation

 Long term adaptation

 Semi-permanent changes in:
 Morphological
 Physiological
 Occur over many generations with in
one species that favor survival.
 Types of adaptation
Adaptation Mode Site Affect Time to Examples
develop
Accommodation Cells Biochemical Minutes, Hormone
reaction hours secretion,
enzyme
activity
Acquired
Acclimation during life Tissue, organ Structure Days, weeks Hypertrophy,
(e.g. hyperplasia
membranes,
cytoplasm)
Acclimatization Organ Function Days, weeks Heat or high-
systems, altitude
body acclimation
Genetic Inherited Population Traits Years, Changes in
adaptation at birth (ie.genotype) generations characteristic
of species,
natural
selection
 Basic principles of adaptation

1. Cells, organs and body systems are highly organized

and capable to change
2. Each environment requires a unique adaptive responses
3. Human may lack/insufficient hereditary abilities to adapt
to all stressful environment
4. Stressful experiences result in:
 Personal growth
 Temporary perturbation
 Permanent/deleterious effect
5. People vary in their capacity to respond to stress
 Different individuals respond to the same stressor with
different outcomes depend
Basic principles of adaptation
6. Stressor may have positive effects
(physical & psychosocial)
 Stamina, coping style
7. Physical stressor are strongly mediated by
psychological factors
 Low stressor (not alarming)
 Smaller physiological responses
8. Human are able to prevent, avoid, control
to a stressor
9. Physiological responses can be
excessive, inappropriate, inadequate, or
disordered
1. Chronic inflammatory disease (rheumatoid)
Basic Principles of Adaptation
10. Psychological strategies may alter the amount of strain
experience caused by stressor
1. Worry, fear, panic exceed the responses
2. Coping (self-deception, prayer, share)  increase the
adaptation
11. Mediator biological, social, psychological modifier that
act on stressor to alter the level of physiological strain
1. Genetic characteristic (biological)
2. Peer/parental expectation (social)
3. Personality (psychological)

12. Physiological/behavioral changes sometimes occur before

a stressor encountered as anticipation
1. Athletes prevent jitters before competition caused by
sympathetic, endocrine, and CV activity
Factors that influence the
responses of stress
 Personal appraisal of stressors
 Level of tolerance
 Emotional response
 Genetic characteristic
 Resources available
 Immune system competence
 Physical fitness
 Age
 Nature and duration of previous exposure
 Control or escape possibilities
 Intelligence, education, skill
 Number of similar previous experience
Body’s Responses to Stress

 Mobilized by :
 Central Nervous System (CNS)
 Endocrine System
 Immune System
 Effect to :
 All the systems in body
• Respond to various stressor in unique
ways
Central Nervous System

 Brain receives afferent input

 Brain sends efferent output that
maintains homeostasis
 Neurotransmitters (serotonin,
dopamine, nor epinephrine, GABA)
are secreted and affect physiological
responses
 Energy mobilization
 Cardiovascular responsive
Endocrine System
 During stress
  Catabolic hormones (cortisol, epinephrine
and nor epinephrine) cause:
• Tissue breakdown
• Nutrient mobilization
•  cell metabolism
 Recovery from stress
  Anabolic hormones (insulin, testosterone,
estrogen)
• Enhancing tissue growth
•  cell metabolism
 Endocrine system in stress
Stressors

SAM Axis HPA Axis

Hypothalamus
CRH

Sympathetic Anterior
spinal nerve pituitary
ACTH
Epinephrine
Adrenal
Nor Adrenal
epinephrine cortex
medulla
Cortisol

Target organ Stimulates energy

mobilization &  Immune
redistribution; response &
 Arousal,
CV responsivity inflammation
aggressiveness
 Catecholamines
 i.e.: epinephrine, nor epinephrine (adrenalin, noradrenalin)
 “Fight or flight reaction” (sympathetic) hormones
 Stimulated by:
 Low blood glucose
  blood volume (BV),  blood pressure (BP)
 Exercise, stressor
 Effects:
  CV activity  HR,  Heart contractility, vasoconstriction
•  BV,  BP
 Divert blood to muscles & skin from GI-tract, hepar, & kidney
  FFA, glycogen mobilization   blood glucose
  Mental activity
  Cellular metabolism
 Organ Receptors Sympathies Parasympatis
Heart β1  HR & Contraction  HR & Contraction
Vascular α Vasoconstriction Dilatation
β Muscle &Coronary
dilatation
Pulmonary β2 Bronchioles dilatation Bronchioles constriction
 Mucous secretion  Mucous secretion
Digestive α, β2 peristaltic,
sphincter  move, sphincter
constriction/distention, relaxation
 glands secretion
 Gland secretion
Gall blader β2 Relaxes Contracts (mixturition)
Eye α(iris), Midriasis pupil, long focus Miosis pupil, close focus
β2(silier)
Liver β2 Glycogenolisis -
Adipose Cells β2 Lipolysis -
Pancreas α  enzyme,  insulin,  glucagons  enzyme,  insulin,  glucagons

Sweat glands α  sweat -

Parotids α  Mucous secretion  Water secretion
Adenohypophyses Cholinergic  E & NE -
Genital α Ejaculation & Orgasm Erection (penis & clitoris)
Muscle ?  alertness -
Corticosteroids

 i.e: cortisol
 Controlled by HPA axis
 During stress;  20x

 Effects:
  CHO production from protein & fat
(Gluconeogenesis)
  Inflammation,  Immune system
Other effects of Sympathetic and Cortisol

  growth
  reproduction, ovulation, sexual
activity, eating
 Effects of Volume & Intensity of
Stressors Related to Hormones
Change in blood concetration
Hormones During intense, During moderate,
brief activity prolong activity
Epinephrine  -
Norepinephrine - 
Cortisol  -
Growth Hormone - 
Thyroxine - 
Prolactin - 
 Recovery of stress

 Normalization of organ’s function after

stressful condition
 Transition of high energy systems to
low energy system
Recovery process

 Normalization of functional systems to

resting level
 Repletion of energy depletion

 Super compensation

 Elimination of intermediate metabolic

accumulation
 Normalization of homeostatic balance
Recovery phases
Rapid recovery Late recovery
Normalization of functional
activity
Normalization of
homeostatic balance
Resuscitation of work
capacity
Resuscitation and super compensation of energy
resources
Reconstruction function
Normalization of functional
activity
 Oxygen recovery
 Tachycardia & Tachypnoe after sprint
 Lactate oxidation & pH balance
 Cori’s cycle
 Electrolytes (Na-K) reposition
 Active transport
 Endocrine
 Para-sympathetic & Anabolic hormones
Energy Repletion
 Gluconeogenesis
 >>> from Free fatty acid  glucose
 ATP & Phophocreatine re-synthesis
 Glycogen re-synthesis
 Insulin induced
 Super-compensation
 Glycogen & posphocreatine re-synthesis
higher than before last stress
 Depend on nutrition (CH2O loading) &
anabolic activity
 Reconstruction

 Protein synthesis
 Repair of cell damage
 Re-synthesis actins-myosin
•  c-leucine myosin
(super-compensation)
?
Thanks