In this way, glucocorticoids are part of the negative feedback pathway that modulates the immune response. This last effect may partly account for the low levels of lymphocytes in the general circulation after chronic glucocorticoid exposure. This differential response to acute vs. chronic glucocorticoid exposure is a common theme in the stress literature. Chronic psychological stress is somewhat of a human invention, evolutionarily speaking, and our physiology is not designed to cope well with chronic glucocorticoid levels. It s very well written for the educated lay, and it ties basic research on the physiology of the stress response into interesting examples.
Glucocorticoids promote somatostatin secretion in the anterior pituitary.
Low levels of glucocorticoids will activate MR s in the hippocampus, an area of the forebrain that is important for long-term memory storage. In contrast, high levels of glucocorticoids start activating the GR s in the hippocampus, and this activation actually disrupts memory formation.