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Updated: Aug 14, 2026

An Unpredictable Chronic Mild Stress Protocol for Instigating Depressive Symptoms, Behavioral Changes and Negative Health Outcomes in Rodents
Published on: December 2, 2015
Effects of D2-dopamine and alpha-adrenoceptor antagonists in stress induced changes on immune responsiveness of mice
Anna Fiserová1, Miroslav Starec, Markéta Kuldová
1Department of Immunology and Gnotobiology, Institute of Microbiology, Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague 4, Czech Republic. fiserova@biomed.cas.cz
Abstract:
The involvement of catecholamine receptors (alpha-adrenergic, D2-dopamine (DA)) was investigated in restraint stress influenced immune responses with concomitant changes of G-protein signal transduction. Impairment of the spleen morphology, TH1/TH2 cytokine network and natural killer (NK) cell function was observed. In vivo administration of specific antagonists prior to restraint stress reversed the immunosuppression. These findings demonstrate that D2-type dopaminergic mechanism represents the dominant component in regulation of Galphas/Galphai(1,2)/Galphaq/11-protein signal transduction and contribute to cell responses at postreceptor level of both, central nervous and immune systems. G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) can modulate cytokine production and may play a regulatory role in immune effector mechanisms.
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