Sympathetic Nervous System Dysfunction in Rheumatoid Arthritis: Brief Overview
Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is an autoimmune condition characterized by chronic inflammation occurring locally within the synovial joints and systemically. Accumulating evidence supports an important role of the sympathetic nervous system in the pathophysiology of RA, both as a cause and consequence of inflammation. Acute sympathetic activation results in a shift from a T-helper (Th) 1 […]
Sympathetic Dysautonomia in Fibromyalgia: Brief Overview
Evolving Concepts Fibromyalgia (FM) is a stress-related disorder that predominately affects women. FM’s outstanding clinical features are chronic widespread pain, paresthesias, allodynia, fatigue, sleep difficulties and cognitive impairment. Other FM associated symptoms relate to irritable bowel, temporo-mandibular dysfunction and interstitial cystitis [1]. FM pathogenesis has not been elucidated. Our group has proposed dysautonomia as an […]
Cytokines Driving Sympathetic Nervous System Activation in the Subfornical Organ: Implications for Heart Failure and Hypertension
A recent study published in Hypertension demonstrates that cytokines such as interleukin (IL)-1β and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α acting at the level of the subfornical organ induce the expression of inflammatory and excitatory mediators that subsequently drive sympathetic nervous system activation. The subfornical organ (SFO), a highly vascularized structure is a circumventricular organ that lacks […]
Insulin Resistance: An Adaptive Program of the Selfish Brain and Immune System
Evolving Concepts Over the last century insulin resistance has been found in many physiological and disease states. A few examples are diabetes mellitus, obesity, infection, sepsis, different types of arthritis (including rheumatoid arthritis), systemic lupus erythematosus, ankylosing spondylitis, trauma, painful states such as postoperative pain and migraine, schizophrenia, major depression, and mental stress (reviewed in […]
Psychological Stress May Promote Inflammation through Expansion of Immature Proinflammatory Monocytes
A recent study by Nicole Powell et al. published in the October 8, 2013 issue of PNAS, suggests that stress hormones may contribute to pro-inflammation through selective expansion and/or recruitment of a specific subpopulation of immature, proinflammatory monocytes. In the 1970s and 1980s stress was often considered immunosuppressive. Recent evidence, however, indicates that psychological stress […]
Evidence that electroacupuncture affects immunity through a specific dopaminergic neuroendocrine pathway
A new study, published in the February 23, 2014 issue of Nature Medicine (Advance Online Publication) provides perhaps the first robust evidence that acupuncture’s effects are translated through specific neuroendocrine and immune pathways. The way acupuncture affects human physiologic processes, and particularly immune function and homeostasis, is not well understood. Acupuncture has always been considered […]
Autonomic Nerves May Contribute to Prostate Cancer Development
In the July 2013 issue of Science magazine, Claire Magnon et al. provide evidence that autonomic nerves contribute to prostate cancer development, where the sympathetic nervous system (SNS) via the activation of β2 and β3-adrenergic receptor pathway participate in the early phase of tumor development. On the other hand, the parasympathetic (cholinergic) nervous system plays […]
Beta Blockers Improve Survival in Ovarian Cancer Patients
At a recent meeting of the American Society of Gynecologic Oncology in Los Angeles, CA., Anil Sood, MD, and colleagues from the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, reported that patients with advanced ovarian cancer had significantly better survival if they took beta blockers. In the past few years, more than a dozen studies have […]
Autonomic Nervous System Shift Linked to Infections following Acute Intracerebral Hemorrhage
A report in the journal Stroke indicates that a sympathetic nervous system over-activity and predominance is associated with higher rate of infection following acute intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH). Stroke is a major cause of morbidity and the third leading cause of death in the Western world. Infections occur commonly following stroke and adversely influence outcome. Pulmonary […]
Aging and Alterated Sympathetic Innervation of Lymphoid Organs in Rodents: Implications
A study in Journal of Neuroimmunology suggests that aging is linked to significant alterations in the sympathetic nervous innervation of lymphoid organs that may contribute to aging-related immunosuppression, The sympathetic nervous system (SNS) is a major branch of the autonomic nervous system and the peripheral stress system. The function of the human SNS is altered […]
