Stress-induced alteration of T-lymphocyte subsets and humoral immunity in mice.

Abstract

Effects of acute rotational stress on the tissue distribution of lymphocyte subpopulations, and the capacity to mount a humoral immune response were examined in normal and adrenalectomized mice. The splenic lymphocyte population showed a significant alteration in its content of T lymphocytes in normal, but not adrenalectomized animals subjected to rotational stress. Thus adrenal steroids may influence lymphocyte subpopulations in animals responding to stress. Humoral immune responsiveness of splenic lymphocytes was assessed by a direct lymphocyte plaque forming cell assay following immunization with sheep erythrocytes. The peak number of lymphocytes forming antibody to sheep erythrocytes found in spleens of animals subjected to stress begun 24 hours after antigen inoculation was 50% of the number observed in animals immunized and stressed simultaneously (p less than .001). No effect of adrenalectomy on the reduction in the numbers of antibody forming lymphocytes was observed. We conclude that stress can modify immune responsiveness by a number of mechanisms, some of which are independent of adrenal corticosteroid action.

Emotional stress induced by parachute jumping enhances blood nerve growth factor levels and the distribution of nerve growth factor receptors in lymphocytes.

“…Because stressful conditions reportedly Am.) act on cells ofthe immune system (3,21,22) and lymphocytes have been shown to respond to the action of NGF (23)(24)(25)(26)(27), it was of interest to identify NGF-receptive cells in circulating blood cells. To address this question, we studied the distribution of p75LNGO in PBMC of controls and parachutists.…”

Peripheral Sympathetic Denervation Alters Both the Primary and Memory Cellular Immune Responses to Herpes simplex Virus Infection

“…It has been well established that glucocorticoids alter various aspects of immune function [3] via their binding to receptors on the surface of lymphocytes [4]. However, recent studies indicate that adrenal-independent mechanisms [5][6][7][8][9], such as those mediated by norepinephrine [10], also contribute to stress-induced modulation of immunity. The accessibility of immune cells to norepinephrine is provided by direct innervation of lymphoid tissues by noradrenergic fibers of the SNS [11][12][13].…”

“…In the lymph nodes and spleen, norepinephrine levels are substantially reduced as early as 1 day following 6-OHDA administration [17][18][19]. More importantly, 6-OHDA has been shown to modulate a variety of immune parameters including cellmediated responses [20], antibody responses [21], cytokine production [22], and lymphocyte trafficking and proliferation [19].…”

Social stress in laboratory rats Rattus norvegicus results in decreased immune competence of the offspring

“…However, there are some data showing that a noise can lead to a decrease of B-cell proliferation with LPS (Monjan and Collector 1977). It has been found that various stress impact could lead to a suppression of B-cell activity and to a decrease in number of the antibody forming cells (Gisler 1974, Boranic et al 1984, Esterling and Rabin 1987, Keller et al 1988, Kirillina et al 1989. Our data also showed a tendency to decrease of B-cell activity in the stressed rats (Table 4).…”