Stress on the thymus and immune response, a review from psychoimmunoendocrinology
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.62486/agsalud20233Keywords:
physiological stress, psychological stress, thymus, immunology(qualifier)Abstract
Introduction: Psychoneuroimmunoendocrinology is an integrative science that approaches immunity as a physical-biochemical and psychological problem. The immune response is the mechanism by which the body reacts against foreign substances. Stress is the way the body responds to any kind of demand. One of the structures affected by stress is the thymus gland.
Objective: to describe the influence of stress on the thymus and the immune response from a psychoneuroimmunoendocrinological perspective.
Methods: A search was carried out in the databases Scopus, PubMed, Medgrphic, Science Direct, Schoolar Google, Scielo, and in updated scientific books and journals. Twenty-six bibliographies were selected, mainly from the last 5 years.
Development: The sympathetic nervous system, the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis and the immune system with the thymus as one of its central organs, in integration with its components, are the material basis of the immune response. Psychological stress can alter the immune response by direct innervation of the lymphoid organs. These affectations have dire consequences for homeostasis, materializing in the appearance of diseases and the weakening of the immune response in the periods of human ontogeny.
Conclusions: Stress causes lymphocytopenia, decrease of monocytes, macrophages, mast cells, T cells, NK cells and involution of the thymus, which has a negative impact on thymopoiesis, causing immunosenescence and favoring the development of various pathologies. Psychoneuroendocrine-immunological procedures constitute a range of therapeutic-diagnostic options for multiple diseases, from alternative medicine to the use of stem cells for thymus rejuvenation.
References
- Abbas AK, Lichtman AH, Pillai S. Properties and overview of immune responses. En: Abbas AK, Lichtman AH, Pillai S, eds. Cellular and Molecular Immunology. 9a ed. Philadelphia, PA: Elsevier; 2018. p.
- US. National Institute of Mental Health [Internet]. Bethesda, MD: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; c1997 [citado 20 May 2020]. 5 things you should know about stress. [aproximadamente 5 pantallas]. Disponible en: https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/stress/index.shtml
- Chaudhry MS, Velardi E, Dudakov JA, van den Brink MRM. Thymus: The Next (Re) Generation. Immunol Rev [Internet]. 2016 [citado 20 May 2020]; 271(1):56-71.Disponible en: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4837659/pdf/nihms758423.pdf
- Intebi AD. La psiconeuroinmunoendocrinología y su importancia en la medicina actual. Revista Méd-Cient "Luz y Vida" [Internet]. 2012 [citado 20 May 2020]; 3(1):71-72. Disponible en: https://www.redalyc.org/pdf/3250/325028226015.pdf
- Losada AV. Sociopsiconeuroinmunoendocrinología. Contribución teórica de la relación entre la sociología y la psiconeuroinmunoendocrinología. Rev Mex Invest Psic. 2017[citado 18 Sept 2021];9(1):73-80. Disponible en: https://www.medigraphic.com/cgi-bin/new/resumen.cgi?IDARTICULO=74047
- Pérez Martín OG, Vega García IG. Inmunología en el humano sano. La Habana: Centro Nacional de Información de Ciencias Médicas, 2017.
- Barbé Espinosa ML. El estrés y su influencia en la etiología del cáncer. Un enfoque desde la Psiconeuroinmunoendocrinología [Internet]. Montevideo: Universidad de la República. Facultad de Psicología; 2018[citado 20 May 2020]. Disponible en: https://escueladecoherenciacardiaca.com/recursos/estresycancer.pdf
- Fernández-Carballosa CR, Raad-García C, Góngora-Parra KB, Aponte-Ramírez L. De la mente a la célula, la psiconeuroinmunoendocrinología. Rev. electron. Zoilo [Internet]. 2018 [citado 20 May 2020]; 43(6 Especial- FiloArtMed). Disponible en: http://revzoilomarinello.sld.cu/index.php/zmv/article/view/1683/pdf_559
- Zamora Cabral R. Estrés y procesos de enfermedad. Tendencias en Medicina [Internet]. 2014 [citado 20 May 2020]; XXII (44):149-160. Disponible en: http://tendenciasenmedicina.com/uploads/369933d2d3ba92a14b52c24e014b282b.pdf
- Bratt CastilloCC. Sistema nervioso autónomo desde la perspectiva inmunológica y del estrés. Pakamuros [Internet]. 30 de diciembre de 2020 [citado 6 de marzo de 2023];8(4):65-7. Disponible en: http://revistas.unj.edu.pe/index.php/pakamuros/article/view/150
- Selye H. A syndrome produced by diverse nocuous agents. Nature 138: 32, 1936.
-. Selye H. The general adaptation syndrome and the diseases of adaptation. J Clin Endocrinol 6: 117-230, 1946.
- Breen MS, Beliakova-Bethell N, Mujica-Parodi LR, y col. Acute psychological stress induces short-term variable immune response. Brain Behav Immun 53: 172-82, 2016.
Marsland AL, Walsh C, Lockwood K, John-Henderson NA. The effects of acute psychological stress on circulating and stimulated inflammatory markers: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Brain Behav Immun 64: 208-19, 2017.
Segerstrom SC, Miller GE. Psychological stress and the human immune system: a meta-analytic study of 30 years of inquiry. Psychol Bull 130: 601-30, 200
- News-Medical.net [Internet]. Manchester: AZoNetwork; c2000-2021 [actualizado 23 Ago 2021; citado 18 Sept 2021] Effect of Stress on the Thymus [aprox.5 pantallas] Disponible en: https://www.news-medical.net/amp/health/Effect-of-Stress-on-the-Thymus.aspx
- Martínez González LR. Valor del estudio ecográfico del timo fetal relacionado con alteraciones estructurales y cromosómicas. Revista [Internet]. 2013[citado 20 May 2020]; 39(3)281-291. Disponible en: http://scielo.sld.cu/pdf/gin/v39n3/gin08313.pdf
- Huda MN, Ahmad SM, Alam MJ, Khanam A, Afsar MNA, Wagatsuma Y, et al. Infant cortisol stress–response is associated with thymic function and vaccine response. Stress [Internet]. 2019[citado 20 May 2020]; 22(1-2): 36-43. Disponible en: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6351220/
- Irina, L. Immune-neuroendocrine interactions involving thymus and pineal gland in stem cell therapy of age-related diseases. Immunology, Endocrine & Metabolic Agents in Medicinal Chemistry [Internet]. 2015 [citado 20 May 2020]; 15(2):101-120. Disponible en: https://www.eurekaselect.com/134547/article
- R, Nardo L, Favero G, Peroni M, Rodella LF. Thymus and aging: morphological, radiological, and functional overview. Age (Dordr) [Internet]. 2014 [citado 20 May 2020]; 36(1):313–351. Disponible en: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3889907/pdf/11357_2013_Article_9564.pdf
- Courtet P, Giner L, Seneque M, Guillaume S, Olie E, Ducasse D. Neuroinflammation in suicide: Toward a comprehensive model. World J Biol Psychiatry [Internet]. 2016 [citado 20 May 2020]; 17(8):564-586 Disponible en: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.3109/15622975.2015.1054879?journalCode=iwbp20
- González-Díaz SN, Arias-Cruz A, Elizondo-Villareal B, Monge-Ortega OP. Psychoneuroimmunoendocrinology: clinical implications. World Allergy Organ J [Internet]. 2017 [citado 20 May 2020]; 10(1):19. Disponible en: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5460476/pdf/40413_2017_Article_151.pdf
- Noris-García E, Robinson-Agramonte MdA. Psiconeuroinmunoendocrinología y COVID-19. Revista Electrónica Dr. Zoilo E. Marinello Vidaurreta 2021; 46(1). Disponible en: http://revzoilomarinello.sld.cu/index.php/zmv/article/view/2523
- Pérez de Alejo Rodríguez LM, Moré Chang CX, González Álvarez Y, Alemán Zamora A. La Psiconeuroendocrinoinmunología: reclamo de una visión integral en los estudios médicos. Edumecentro [Internet]. 2019 [citado 20 May 2020]; 11(3):254-261. Disponible en: http://www.revedumecentro.sld.cu/index.php/edumc/article/view/1422/pdf_432
- Fenggen Y, Xiumei M, Junfeng L, Siqi Y, Xing Z, Chen D. Thymic function in the regulation of T cells, and molecular mechanisms underlying the modulation of cytokines and stress signaling (Review). Mol Med Rep [Internet]. 2017 [citado 20 May 2020]; 16(5): 7175-7184. Disponible en: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5865843/pdf/mmr-16-05-7175.pdf
- Rachel T, Weikan W, Dong-Ming S. Contributions of Age-Related Thymic Involution to Immunosenescence and Inflammaging. Immune Ageing[Internet]. 2020[citado 20 May 2020] 17:2 p. 17. Disponible en: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31988649/
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2023 Fidel Jesús Moreno-Cubela, Katherine de la Caridad Garrido-Benítez, Luis Rafael Céspedes-Gamboa (Author)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
The article is distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License. Unless otherwise stated, associated published material is distributed under the same licence.
