Interaction Between the Central Nervous System and the Immune System: The Influence of a Short and Mild Emotional Stress on the Proliferative Response of Rat Spleen Cells

Author(s):  
Cobi J. Heijnen ◽  
Gerda Croiset ◽  
Caroline Bevers ◽  
H. D. Veldhuis ◽  
D. de Wied ◽  
...  
2019 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Alejandro Quintero-Villegas ◽  
Sergio Iván Valdés-Ferrer

AbstractIn mammalians, serotonin (5-HT) has critical roles in the central nervous system (CNS), including mood stability, pain tolerance, or sleep patterns. However, the vast majority of serotonin is produced by intestinal enterochromaffin cells of the gastrointestinal tract and circulating blood platelets, also acting outside of the CNS. Serotonin effects are mediated through its interaction with 5-HT receptors (5-HTRs), a superfamily with a repertoire of at least fourteen well-characterized members. 5-HT7 receptors are the last 5-HTR member to be identified, with well-defined functions in the nervous, gastrointestinal, and vascular systems. The effects of serotonin on the immune response are less well understood. Mast cells are known to produce serotonin, while T cells, dendritic cells, monocytes, macrophages and microglia express 5-HT7 receptor. Here, we review the known roles of 5-HT7 receptors in the immune system, as well as their potential therapeutic implication in inflammatory and immune-mediated disorders.


Physiology ◽  
2000 ◽  
Vol 15 (5) ◽  
pp. 250-255
Author(s):  
Michael A. Klein ◽  
Adriano Aguzzi

Prion diseases are fatal neurodegenerative disorders of animals and humans. Here we address the role of the immune system in the spread of prions from peripheral sites to the central nervous system and its potential relevance to iatrogenic prion disease.


2012 ◽  
Vol 2012 ◽  
pp. 1-7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Oscar Kurt Bitzer-Quintero ◽  
Ignacio González-Burgos

The central nervous system is closely linked to the immune system at several levels. The brain parenchyma is separated from the periphery by the blood brain barrier, which under normal conditions prevents the entry of mediators such as activated leukocytes, antibodies, complement factors, and cytokines. The myeloid cell lineage plays a crucial role in the development of immune responses at the central level, and it comprises two main subtypes: (1) resident microglia, distributed throughout the brain parenchyma; (2) perivascular macrophages located in the brain capillaries of the basal lamina and the choroid plexus. In addition, astrocytes, oligodendrocytes, endothelial cells, and, to a lesser extent, neurons are implicated in the immune response in the central nervous system. By modulating synaptogenesis, microglia are most specifically involved in restoring neuronal connectivity following injury. These cells release immune mediators, such as cytokines, that modulate synaptic transmission and that alter the morphology of dendritic spines during the inflammatory process following injury. Thus, the expression and release of immune mediators in the brain parenchyma are closely linked to plastic morphophysiological changes in neuronal dendritic spines. Based on these observations, it has been proposed that these immune mediators are also implicated in learning and memory processes.


2018 ◽  
Vol 98 (1) ◽  
pp. 477-504 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Dantzer

Because of the compartmentalization of disciplines that shaped the academic landscape of biology and biomedical sciences in the past, physiological systems have long been studied in isolation from each other. This has particularly been the case for the immune system. As a consequence of its ties with pathology and microbiology, immunology as a discipline has largely grown independently of physiology. Accordingly, it has taken a long time for immunologists to accept the concept that the immune system is not self-regulated but functions in close association with the nervous system. These associations are present at different levels of organization. At the local level, there is clear evidence for the production and use of immune factors by the central nervous system and for the production and use of neuroendocrine mediators by the immune system. Short-range interactions between immune cells and peripheral nerve endings innervating immune organs allow the immune system to recruit local neuronal elements for fine tuning of the immune response. Reciprocally, immune cells and mediators play a regulatory role in the nervous system and participate in the elimination and plasticity of synapses during development as well as in synaptic plasticity at adulthood. At the whole organism level, long-range interactions between immune cells and the central nervous system allow the immune system to engage the rest of the body in the fight against infection from pathogenic microorganisms and permit the nervous system to regulate immune functioning. Alterations in communication pathways between the immune system and the nervous system can account for many pathological conditions that were initially attributed to strict organ dysfunction. This applies in particular to psychiatric disorders and several immune-mediated diseases. This review will show how our understanding of this balance between long-range and short-range interactions between the immune system and the central nervous system has evolved over time, since the first demonstrations of immune influences on brain functions. The necessary complementarity of these two modes of communication will then be discussed. Finally, a few examples will illustrate how dysfunction in these communication pathways results in what was formerly considered in psychiatry and immunology to be strict organ pathologies.


2017 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 45
Author(s):  
Karol Ramírez Chan DDS, MSc, PhD ◽  
Jaime Jaime Fornaguera-Trías PhD

Objective: Standardize a protocol of immunohistochemistry that has been widely used in C57BL/6J mice to identify microglia of the central nervous system in Wistar rats.  Materials and Methods: This research activity was carried out in two parts. In the first part, a protocol of immunohistochemistry was implemented to identify microglia in the central nervous system of 6 Wistar rats. A primary antibody with reactivity to rat and a specific secondary antibody to the primary were used. Once the protocol was established in rats' brains, an immunological challenge was produced with the intraperitoneal application of lipopolysaccharide in 2 Wistar rats, in order to evidence the changes in microglia morphology.  Results and Discussion: We demonstrate that without making major modifications to the original protocol, it can also be used to identify microglia in adult Wistar rats. In the near future, this immunostaining protocol will be applied to elucidate the bidirectional interaction between the brain and the immune system, under homeostatic conditions and different physiological and pathological stimuli.


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