Endocannabinoid System in the Neuroendocrine Response to Lipopolysaccharide-induced Immune Challenge

Abstract

Abstract The endocannabinoid system plays a key role in the intersection of the nervous, endocrine, and immune systems, regulating not only their functions but also how they interplay with each other. Endogenous ligands, named endocannabinoids, are produced “on demand” to finely regulate the synthesis and secretion of hormones and neurotransmitters, as well as to regulate the production of cytokines and other proinflammatory mediators. It is well known that immune challenges, such as exposure to lipopolysaccharide, the main component of the Gram-negative bacteria cell wall, disrupt not only the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis but also affects other endocrine systems such as the hypothalamic–pituitary–gonadal axis and the release of oxytocin from the neurohypophysis. Here we explore which actors and molecular mechanisms are involved in these processes.