What causes diencephalic syndrome?
Last reviewed: 19.10.2021
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Causes of diencephalic syndrome
Among the etiological factors of hypothalamic dysfunction, particular importance is given to the adverse effects on the child of the following indicators:
- intrauterine hypoxia and fetal hypotrophy;
- birth trauma;
- pathology of the second half of pregnancy (pre-eclampsia I-III severity), accompanied by fetoplacental insufficiency and threat of termination of pregnancy in the mother;
- long-existing foci of infection (chronic tonsillitis, bronchitis, SARS).
Among the factors predisposing to the development of hypothalamic dysfunction, the most significant:
- obesity;
- early puberty;
- thyroid dysfunction.
The triggering mechanisms for the development of this state:
- psycho-traumatic situations;
- concussion of the brain;
- pregnancy;
- influence of environmental factors (especially in critical periods of life, including in the pubertal period) in girls with congenital or constitutional hypothalamus deficiency.
Pathogenesis of diencephalic syndrome
Hypothalamic dysfunction is considered as a disorganization of functional systems under the control of the limbic-reticular complex, which includes:
- reticular formation;
- hypothalamus;
- thalamus;
- amygdala body;
- hypokamp;
- septum;
- some associative zones of the cortex of the cerebral hemispheres.
The causes and pathogenesis of these disorders are not fully understood. A common point of view of scientists is to present the polyethiologic nature of the development of the disease in adolescents with a constitutional or congenital hypothalamus deficiency. A wide range of symptoms with hypothalamus dysfunction is due primarily to the extensive functions of the hypothalamus, which controls:
- directly secretion of luliberins and, indirectly, the activity of glands of internal secretion;
- metabolic changes:
- function of the autonomic nervous system;
- temperature regulation;
- emotional reactions;
- sexual and nutritional behavior, etc.
As a result of decompensation of the regulating activity of the hypothalamic structures, the secretion of GnRH and gonadotropic hormones of the pituitary gland is violated and, as a consequence, the synthesis of hormones by the peripheral glands. In addition, there are vegetative-vascular disorders, less often - motivational and emotional disorders, as well as metabolic changes.