Reciprocal interactions between the neuroendocrine and immune systems during inflammation

The neuroendocrine and immune responses to inflammatory stress represent important integrated physiologic circuits for the regulation of inflammation whose basis has been reviewed. Proinflammatory cytokines such as IL-1 beta, TNF alpha, and IL-6 released from inflammatory foci initiate a local inflammatory response and travel by way of the blood-stream to the central nervous system, where they trigger a variety of neuroendocrine counterregulatory mechanisms. There is an important NEI loop. Stimulatory signals are received by the neural systems from inflammatory foci and are transduced by the hypothalamus, thereby initiating a complex hormonal and cytokine cascade of reactions aimed at modulating inflammation and returning the organism to normal physiologic homeostasis once the trigger has been neutralized. Conversely, a number of mechanisms that modulate the anti-inflammatory activity of the neuroendocrine responses to inflammation are also activated. Defects in the neuroendocrine-immune interactions can profoundly affect the susceptibility to developing chronic inflammatory disease and influencing survival after bacterial infections. The NEI loop has important pathophysiologic implications for disease processes.