Norepinephrine: a messenger from the brain to the immune system

✍ Scribed by Adam P Kohm; Virginia M Sanders

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 2000
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 592 KB
• Volume: 21
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0167-5699
• DOI: 10.1016/s0167-5699(00)01747-3

✦ Synopsis

nly 25 years ago, a functional interaction between the central nervous system (CNS) and the immune system was first proposed. Today, several bidirectional communication pathways 1,2 have been described between these two systems (Fig. 1). For example, it is well accepted that activated immune cells patrol the normal CNS and that products of these cells exert both protective and detrimental influences on CNS pathology. Similarly, although the chemical messenger of the sympathetic nervous system, norepinephrine (NE), was originally characterized by its contribution to the 'fight or flight' response, today we know that NE also stimulates immune cell readiness during infection and immune challenge.