Abstract
Acute stress increases the number of natural killer (NK) cells, which plays a critical role in innate immunity, in peripheral circulation within several minutes. This phenomenon is called redistribution of NK cells and has been thought to reflect facilitation of preventive defense. Redistribution of NK cells is not a stereotyped response but is sensitive to cognitive appraisals of stressors, and thus might be under control by the brain. We have explored neural mechanisms of the top-down modulation of NK cell distribution by the brain using simultaneous measurement of brain activity by positron emission tomography and the number of NK cells in blood during cognitive acute stress tasks where stressor controllability and cognitive flexibility were manipulated. Results suggested that the dorsolateral prefrontal and orbitofrontal cortices might be involved in appraisals of stressors, and modulate NK cell redistribution via the anterior cingulate cortex and the vagus nerve.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Adler, K. A., Mills, P. J., Dimsdale, J. E., Ziegler, M. G., Patterson, T. L., Sloan, R. P., et al. (2002). Temporal stability of acute stress-induced changes in leukocyte subsets and cellular adhesion molecules in older adults. Brain, Behavior, and Immunity, 16, 262–274.
Benschop, R. J., Oostveen, F. G., Heijnen, C. J., & Ballieux, R. E. (1993). Beta 2-adrenergic stimulation causes detachment of natural killer cells from cultured endothelium. European Journal of Immunology, 23, 3242–3247.
Benschop, R. J., Nijkamp, F. P., Ballieux, R. E., & Heijnen, C. J. (1994). The effects of beta-adrenoceptor stimulation on adhesion of human natural killer cells to cultured endothelium. British Journal of Pharmacology, 113, 1311–1316.
Benschop, R. J., Rodriguez-Feuerhahn, M., & Schedlowski, M. (1996). Catecholamine-induced leukocytosis: early observations, current research, and future directions. Brain, Behavior, and Immunity, 10, 77–91.
Benschop, R. J., Geenen, R., Mills, P. J., Naliboff, B. D., Kiecolt-Glaser, J. K., Herbert, T. B., et al. (1998). Cardiovascular and immune responses to acute psychological stress in young and old women: a meta-analysis. Psychosomatic Medicine, 60, 290–296.
Bevilacqua, M. P. (1993). Endothelial-leukocyte adhesion molecules. Annual Review of Immunology, 11, 767–804.
Blascovich, J., Mendes, W. B., Hunter, S. B., & Salomon, K. (1999). Social “facilitation” as challenge and threat. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 77, 68–77.
Bosch, J. A., Berntson, G. G., Cacioppo, J. T., & Marucha, P. T. (2005). Differential mobilization of functionally distinct natural killer subsets during acute psychologic stress. Psychosomatic Medicine, 67, 366–375.
Cooper, M. A., Fehniger, T. A., & Caligiuri, M. A. (2001). The biology of human natural killer-cell subsets. Trends in Immunology, 22, 633–640.
Crary, B., Hauser, S. L., Borysenko, M., Kutz, I., Hoban, C., Ault, K. A., et al. (1983). Epinephrine-induced changes in the distribution of lymphocyte subsets in peripheral blood of humans. Journal of Immunology, 131, 1178–1181.
Dantzer, R., Konsman, J. P., Bluthé, R. M., & Kelley, K. W. (2000). Neural and humoral pathways of communication from the immune system to the brain: Parallel or convergent? Autonomous Neuroscience, 85, 60–65.
Dhabhar, F. S. (1998). Stress-induced enhancement of cell-mediated immunity. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 840, 359–372.
Frey, M., Packianathan, N. B., Fehniger, T. A., Ross, M. E., Wang, W. C., Stewart, C. C., et al. (1998). Differential expression and function of L-selectin on CD56bright and CD56dim natural killer cell subsets. Journal of Immunology, 16, 400–408.
Gaab, J., Blattler, N., Menzi, T., Pabst, B., Stoyer, S., & Ehlert, U. (2003). Randomized controlled evaluation of the effects of cognitive-behavioral stress management on cortisol responses to acute stress in healthy subjects. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 28, 767–779.
Haddad, J. J. (2008). On the mechanisms and putative pathways involving neuroimmune interactions. Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications, 370, 531–535.
Isowa, T., Ohira, H., & Murashima, S. (2006). Immune, endocrine and cardiovascular responses to controllable and uncontrollable acute stress. Biological Psychology, 71, 202–213.
Karasek, R., Brisson, C., Kawakami, N., Houtman, I., Bongers, P., & Amick, B. (1998). The Job Content Questionnaire (JCQ): An instrument for internationally comparative assessments of psychosocial job characteristics. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 3, 322–355.
Kehagia, A. A., Murray, G. K., & Robbins, T. W. (2010). Learning and cognitive flexibility: Frontostriatal function and monoaminergic modulation. Current Opinion in Neurobiology, 20, 199–204.
Kiecolt-Glaser, J. K., McGuire, L., Robles, T. F., & Glaser, R. (2002). Psychoneuroimmunology and psychosomatic medicine: Back to the future. Psychosomatic Medicine, 64, 15–28.
Kimura, K., Isowa, T., Ohira, H., & Murashima, S. (2005). Temporal variation of acute stress responses in sympathetic nervous and immune systems. Biological Psychology, 70, 131–139.
Kimura, K., Ohira, H., Isowa, T., Matsunaga, M., & Murashima, S. (2007). Regulation of lymphocytes redistribution via autonomic nervous activity during stochastic learning. Brain, Behavior, and Immunity, 21, 921–934.
Kimura, K., Isowa, T., Matsunaga, M., Murashima, S., & Ohira, H. (2008). The temporal redistribution pattern of NK cells under acute stress based on CD62L adhesion molecule expression. International Journal of Psychophysiology, 70, 63–69.
Lane, R. D., McRae, K., Reiman, E. M., Chen, K., Ahern, G. L., & Thayer, J. F. (2009). Neural correlates of heart rate variability during emotion. NeuroImage, 44, 213–222.
Lazarus, R. S., & Folkman, S. (1984). Stress, appraisal, and coping. New York: Springer.
Levy, R., & Goldman-Rakic, P. S. (2000). Segregation of working memory functions within the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. Experimental Brain Research, 133, 23–32.
Madden, K. S., Sanders, V. M., & Felten, D. L. (1995). Catecholamine influences and sympathetic neural modulation of immune responsiveness. Annual Review of Pharmacology and Toxicology, 35, 417–448.
Maier, S. F., & Watkins, L. R. (2005). Stressor controllability and learned helplessness: the roles of the dorsal raphe nucleus, serotonin, and corticotropin-releasing factor. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, 29, 829–841.
O’Doherty, J., Kringelbach, M. L., Rolls, E. T., Hornak, J., & Andrews, C. (2001). Abstract reward and punishment representations in the human orbitofrontal cortex. Nature Neuroscience, 4, 95–102.
O’Doherty, J., Critchley, H., Deichmann, R., & Dolan, R. J. (2003). Dissociating valence of outcome from behavioral control in human orbital and ventral prefrontal cortices. Journal of Neuroscience, 23, 7931–7939.
Ohira, H., (2012). Brain functions regulating redistribution of natural killer cells accompanying appraisals of stressors. Paper presented at the 12th International Congress of Behavioral Medicine. August, Budapest, Hungary.
Ohira, H., Isowa, T., Nomura, M., Ichikawa, N., Kimura, K., Miyakoshi, M., et al. (2008). Imaging brain and immune association accompanying cognitive appraisal of an acute stressor. Neuroimage, 39, 500–514.
Ohira, H., Fukuyama, S., Kimura, K., Nomura, M., Isowa, T., Ichikawa, N., et al. (2009). Regulation of natural killer cell redistribution by prefrontal cortex during stochastic learning. Neuroimage, 47, 897–907.
Ohira, H., Ichikawa, N., Nomura, M., Isowa, T., Kimura, K., Kanayama, N., et al. (2010). Brain and autonomic association accompanying stochastic decision-making. Neuroimage, 49, 1024–1037.
Ohira, H., Matsunaga, M., Kimura, K., Murakami, H., Osumi, T., Isowa, T., et al. (2011). Chronic stress modulates neural and cardiovascular responses during reversal learning. Neuroscience, 193, 193–204.
Peters, M. L., Godaert, G. L., Ballieux, R. E., Brosschot, J. F., Sweep, F. C., Swinkels, L. M., et al. (1999). Immune responses to experimental stress: effects of mental effort and uncontrollability. Psychosomatic Medicine, 61, 513–524.
Peters, M. L., Godaert, G. L., Ballieux, R. E., & Heijnen, C. J. (2003). Moderation of physiological stress responses by personality traits and daily hassles: less flexibility of immune system responses. Biological Psychology, 65, 21–48.
Roberts, A. C. (2006). Primate orbitofrontal cortex and adaptive behaviour. Trends Cognition Science, 10, 83–90.
Saul, J. P., Rea, R. F., Eckberg, D. L., Berger, R. D., & Cohen, R. J. (1990). Heart rate and muscle sympathetic nerve variability during reflex changes of autonomic activity. American Journal of Physiology, 258, 713–721.
Thayer, J. F., & Brosschot, J. F. (2005). Psychosomatics and psychopathology: Looking up and down from the brain. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 30, 1050–1058.
Thayer, J. F., Ahs, F., Fredrikson, M., Sollers, J. J. 3rd, Wager, T. D. (2012). A meta-analysis of heart rate variability and neuroimaging studies: implications for heart rate variability as a marker of stress and health. Neuroscience Biobehaviour Review 36, 747–756.
Tracey, K. J. (2009). Reflex control of immunity. Nature Reviews Immunology, 9, 418–428.
van Noordt, S. J., & Segalowitz, S. J. (2012). Performance monitoring and the medial prefrontal cortex: a review of individual differences and context effects as a window on self-regulation. Frontiers Human Neuroscience, 6, 197.
Weber, C. S., Thayer, J. F., Rudat, M., Wirtz, P. H., Zimmermann-Viehoff, F., Thomas, A., et al. (2010). Low vagal tone is associated with impaired post stress recovery of cardiovascular, endocrine, and immune markers. European Journal of Applied Physiology, 109, 201–211.
Yamakawa, K., Matsunaga, M., Isowa, T., Kimura, K., Kasugai, K., Yoneda, M., et al. (2009). Transient responses of inflammatory cytokines in acute stress. Biological Psychology, 82, 25–32.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Highlights
Highlights
-
Natural killer (NK) cells in peripheral circulation rapidly increase (redistribution) in acute stress and can facilitate preventive defense.
-
NK cell redistribution can be modulated based on cognitive appraisals of stressors, reflecting flexible adaptation to the stressors.
-
The prefrontal cortex of the brain is involved in appraisals of stressors and in top-down modulation of NK cell redistribution via the vagus nerve.
-
Functional connection of the brain and immunity should be critical for facilitation of health and prevention of diseases.
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2013 Springer Science+Business Media New York
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Ohira, H. (2013). Brain Functions Modulating Redistribution of Natural Killer Cells Accompanying Cognitive Appraisal of Acute Stress. In: Hall, P. (eds) Social Neuroscience and Public Health. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6852-3_11
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6852-3_11
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY
Print ISBN: 978-1-4614-6851-6
Online ISBN: 978-1-4614-6852-3
eBook Packages: MedicineMedicine (R0)