Psychoneuroimmunology

What is Psychoneuroimmunology?

  • How psychological processes, the nervous system, immune system interact to affect physical health


Lymph Nodes → found all over the body

  • shows the importance of the immune system to our entire body


Innate vs. Adapative Immunity

  • Innate (everyone has this)

    • Fast Responses (Minutes to Hours)

    • Non-Specific to Viruses

  • Adapative (everyone’s system is different due to exposure)

    • Slow Response (Days to Weeks)

    • Specific to Viruses



Skin

  • It is the biggest immune organ → first line of defense to viruses

  • When you cut yourself

    • Bacteria rushes in

    • Body acts to deal with the bacteria ADD



Cells of Innate Immunity

  • Soliders: Natural Killer Cells

    • Releases Perforin to create little holes in the bacteria

    • Releases Complement → Grenade like material


  • Cookie Monsters: Marcophages

    • Consume and digest the bacteria


  • Tattle Tales: Macrophages, Dendritic Cells, B-Cells (Antigen Presenting Cells)

    • Alerts to what has invaded the system

    • Detect and digest pathogens


  • Suicide Bombers: Eosinphils, Basophils, Neutrophils

    • Obliterates viruses with their chemicals


  • Antigen presenting cells in the lymph nodes copy the cells that can deal with the virus

    • Have to identify the b and t cells that can assist with that pathogen



Cells of the Adaptive System

  • Snow White’s Evil Stepmother: B cells

    • Use specific tactics (antibodies) to destroy the pathogens

  • Jack the Ripper: T cells

    • Will directly kill or consume pathogens

Vaccine Function

  • Functions by introducing dead/crippled versions of possible pathogens

  • Builds a specialized collection of antibodies

  • Provides an “Advance Warning”


What does Stress do to your Immune System?

  • My Guess: Increases innate response and decreased the adapative response

  • Actual: Real

    • Reasoning:You need to survive the current moment, so you need a quick response which correlates more with the innate response

    • Building copies of t and b cells takes energy which can’t be used up since we want to focus our energy on the stressor itself


Inflammation

  • Comes from the repeated stimulation of the innate immune system

  • Too Much Cholestrol → Athlerosclerosis

    • Cholestrol will stick onto blood vessel walls

  • Leads to heart disease


Sickness Behavior

  • Refers to a decrease in positive mood to stop the spread of disease to other people

    • Seen majorly in groups of social organisms

  • Cytokine Communication is released by the immune system to create the following effects:

    • Lethargy

    • Loss of Appetite

    • Sleepiness

    • Increased Sensitivity to pain

    • Anxiety

    • Failure to Concentrate

    • Depression

  • This is pretty cool → something physiological affecting something pyschological


Problems in PNI (Psychoneuroimmunlogy)

  • No stress-cancer link

  • Measuring the immune system is difficult


Examples we Already know

  • Kemeny and Cole : Closeted HIV+ men and AIDS death

  • Cohen: Injecting the cold virus


Loneliness and the Flu Vaccine

  • Measuring the closeness of people to others (social networks)

  • Findings:

    • Smaller networks had fewer antibodies when getting the flu vaccine

    • Reported High Loneliness had produced fewer antibodies

    • Both Matter: People with small networks and high loneliness people will produce the fewest amount of antibodies

    • Can compensate for a small network if you don’t feel lonely


Vacular Endothelial Growth Factor (VEGF)

  • Tumors will secrete VEGF to signal body to grow more veins and arteries to the tumor

    • Will lead to growth due to the increased growth supply


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Stress and the Immune Response

  • Sympathetic Activation and Epinephrine → increases the innate response

    • Leads to our inflammation

  • Stressed individuals took 9 days longer to heal from their wounds



Immune Activationg and Feeling Post-Rejection

  • LPS (Lipopolysaccharide) is ingest to which leads to a wide immune activation and these individuals are social rejected

    • This led to higher sensitivity to rejection

  • Certain sections in the brain are sensitive to this rejection


Ways to Study the Immune System

  • Cytokines in Blood

  • Vaccine Response

  • Tumor Tissue

  • Wound Healing

  • LPS Injection


  • Conditions

    • Asthma

    • Rheumatoid Arthritis

    • Allergies