In BA, the mechanisms of regulation of stress reactions are violated. Already in the early stages of the disease, the degenerative process involves the hippocampus, a brain structure that plays a significant role in mnestic processes. This department of the brain, in addition, teaching It acts in the inhibition of stress reactions by the mechanism of negative feedback. Obviously, in connection with the defeat of the hippocampal neurons in AD, the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis is hyperactive. The level of the stress hormone cortisol in many patients with BA alone is elevated (CG Gottfries, 1995; T. Olsson, 1995). Disorders in the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis also appear in the dexamethasone test (CG Gottfries, 1995). The consequence of this may be the increase in disorders of energy metabolism in asthma by the stress mechanisms described above. In this regard, it is of great interest to study the relationship between changes in the stress hormone cortisol and UPP in asthma.
In 20 patients with BA (mean age 63.5 + 1.6 years) and 19 healthy subjects, corresponding to them in age (average age 64.3 + 2.0 years), we investigated the dependence of the parameters of SCP on the level of cortisol in peripheral blood. The work was carried out jointly with the staff of the Scientific and Technological Department of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences. BA was diagnosed with N.D. Selezneva, the determination of cortisol was made by O. A. Pavlova. Cortisol was determined in the serum by radioimmunoassays. The results of this work were published earlier (N.V. Ponomarev et al., 1999). In patients with BA, the level of cortisol was 493.9 + 42.0 nmol / l and significantly exceeded its content in healthy subjects of the same age (366.6 + 29 , 1 nmol / l) . There was also an increase in SCP in all monopolar leads. It can be assumed that an increase in cortisol in BA is an additional factor that intensifies the disturbances of energy metabolism with a decrease in pH, which is reflected in the values of the UPP.
However, the relationship between SCP and cortisol, which is normal, is less pronounced in asthma (see section 6.6. “Changes in cerebral energy metabolism under stress”). The change in the nature of the relationship between cortisol and SCP apparently reflects a decrease in the effect of cortisol on cerebral energy metabolism in asthma. Indeed, other studies have also shown that if an increase in blood glucocorticoid levels normally leads to a decrease in the intensity of glucose consumption in the hippocampus, in BA patients this dependence is violated (MJ de Leon et al., 1997), which indicates desensitization of neurons hippocampus to glucocorticoids.