The Impact of Infectious Diseases upon Neuroendocrine Circuits

PÉREZ AR, BOTTASSO O, SAVINO W

NEUROIMMUNOMODULATION.

Karger

Lugar: Suiza; Año: 2009 vol. 16 p. 96 - 105

1021-7401

 Abstract  During infectious diseases, neuroendocrine and immunenetworks act in concert, facilitating host response. It isknown that infections cause profound immune changes, butthe impact upon immunoendocrine circuits has been lessstudied. Disorders in the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal(HPA) axis were frequently observed associated with infec-tions, and these changes often occur parallel to alterationsin the systemic cytokine network. Explanations for the infec-tion-associated immunoendocrine disturbances includeseveral not mutually exclusive possibilities. Changes in cyto-kine levels can enhance or suppress the HPA axis, by actingat the hypothalamus-pituitary unit and/or at the adrenalglands. In situ inflammatory reactions or structural changeslike vascular alterations or an enhanced extracellular matrixdeposition in the endocrine microenvironment may alsolead to a transient HPA dysfunction. Lastly, a microbe-relat-ed effect by means of pathogen infiltration or exploitationof the hosts hormonal microenvironment may be involvedas well. A better understanding of the relevance of immuno-endocrine communication during infectious diseases, and