Bidirectional interaction between immune and neuroendocrine systems. An experimental approach

The purpose of this article is to review recent experimental data from our laboratory on immune-neuroendocrine communications, whereby the following findings will be discussed: (i) Experiments using an experimental stress model in rats revealed different doses of a defined stressor to exert opposite effects on the in vitro reactivity of peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBL). Stress effects are also dependent on the tissue origin of lymphocytes, and they seem to be exclusively mediated by adrenal hormones. (ii) The balance between the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system may be critical in extrinsic immunoregulation: Experimentally induced hypercatecholaminemia in rats seem to protect lymphocytes from immunosuppressing effects of other, endogenous stress hormones, but causes suppression of PBL activation, if beta-receptors are blocked at the same time. Chronic cholinergic stimuli exert enhancing effects on the cells of the thymus. (iii) A defect in the immune-neuroendocrine crosstalk may contribute to the occurrence of forbidden immune reactions, as has been shown in spontaneous and experimentally induced autoimmune diseases in animals models. Recent data indicate that the parasympathetic nervous system is involved in the transmission of immune messages to the central nervous system.