Chronic Varied Stress Modulates Experimental Autoimmune Encephalomyelitis in Wistar Rats

doi:10.1006/brbi.1998.0519

Brain, Behavior, and Immunity

Volume 12, Issue 2, June 1998, Pages 134-148

https://doi.org/10.1006/brbi.1998.0519 Get rights and content

Abstract

Stress disturbs homeostasis by altering the equilibrium of various hormones which have a significant impact on immune responses. Few studies have examined the influence of stressors on autoimmune disease in animal models. In our work, we studied the effects of long-term exposure (14 days) to chronic varied stress (CVS) in a model of experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) in Wistar rats. We studied whether the exposure to CVS before or after the immune challenge would correlate with differences in the clinical course of the disease. We also examined whether the CVS would modulate the magnitude of the cellular or the humoral immune response. We observed opposite effects on the clinical signs in animals stressed before or after the immune challenge. The clinical signs of the disease were attenuated in animals stressed before but not after the immune challenge. Relationships were found in the modulation of the clinical severity related to the time of exposure to the CVS, the histological alterations and the proliferative results. Stressed animals with milder clinical signs presented an exacerbated humoral response against myelin antigens while stressed animals with more severe clinical symptoms exhibited a significantly diminished one. Besides, we detected the presence of specific IgG1 associated with the exposure to CVS before the induction of EAE. Our results show that, depending on the timing of the exposure of Wistar rats to the CVS, the neuroendocrine disbalance favors a more pronounced humoral or cellular profile of the response.

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We and others have observed that rodents typically show signs of stress related to CS exposure, exposure modality, as well as handling [21,81]. Whether increased stress have an impact on EAE might depend on the paradigms used for inducing the stress [12,17,24,76], but stress-induced elevation of blood corticosterone level has been correlated with reduced severity of EAE symptoms [25]. Thus, further investigation on the effect of stress on EAE development and progression is needed to improve our understanding of their interdependence in experimental conditions.
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^☆: R. GlaserJ. K. Kiecolt-Glaser

¹: To whom correspondence and reprint request should be addressed at Inmunologı́a. Departamento de Bioquı́mica Clı́nica, Facultad de Ciencias Quı́micas, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Agencia Postal 4, CC 61, 5000 Córdoba, Argentina. Fax: (051) 334174.

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Regular ArticleChronic Varied Stress Modulates Experimental Autoimmune Encephalomyelitis in Wistar Rats☆

Abstract

Life Sci.

Curr. Opin. Immunol.

J. Neuroimmunol.

J. Neuroimmunol.

J. Neuroimmunol.

Pharmacol. Biochem. Behav.

J. Neuroimmunol.

Immunol. Today

Brain Res. Bull.

Brain Behav. Immun.

Brain Behav. Immun.

Immunol. Today

Immunol. Today

Pharmacol. Biochem. Behav.

Jpn. J. Pharmacol.

J. Neuroimmunol.

Neurosci. Biobehav. Rev.

Neurochem. Int.

Brain Res.

Immunol. Today

Psychoneuroimmunology: conditioning and stress

Annu. Rev. Psychol.

Psychoneuroimmunology: interactions between the nervous system and the immune system

The Lancet

Stress, early experience and adjuvant-induced arthritis in the rat

Psychosom. Med.

The preparation and some properties of purified myelin from the central nervous system

J. Neurochem.

Central nervous system-immune system interactions: Psychoneuroendocrinology of stress and its immune consequences

Antimicrob. Agents Chemother.

Hormones in self tolerance and autoimmunity: a role in the pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis

Autoimmunity

Regulation by corticosteroids of Th1 and Th2 cytokine production in human CD4+ effector T cells generated from CD45RO− and CD45RO+ subsets

J. Immunol.

Stress-induced suppression of experimental allergic encephalomyelitis in the rat

Intern. J. Neurosci.

Regular Article
Chronic Varied Stress Modulates Experimental Autoimmune Encephalomyelitis in Wistar Rats☆