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Updated: Jun 19, 2025

A Mouse Model of Vascularized Heterotopic Spleen Transplantation for Studying Spleen Cell Biology and Transplant Immunity
Published on: June 11, 2019
Aching to defend: spleen innervation drives humoral immunity
Tuany Eichwald1, Sebastien Talbot1
1Department of Biomedical and Molecular Sciences, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada; Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Karolinska Institutet, Solna, Sweden.
Abstract:
The immune and sensory nervous systems communicate to maintain homeostasis. Wu et al. recently demonstrated that sensory neurons innervate the mouse spleen. These neurons promote calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP)-dependent responses in splenic B cell germinal centers (GCs) and antigen-specific antibody production. Dietary capsaicin activates these neurons to enhance humoral immunity against influenza virus infection.
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