La psiconeuroinmunología: bases de la relación entre los sistemas nervioso, endocrino e inmune

Abstract

ILLNESS RESULTS FROM THE INTERACTION OF SEVERAL FACTORS, SOME EXTERNAL (VIRUSES, BACTERIA, TOXINS AND CHEMICALS), OTHERS NATURAL OR PERTAINING TO THE ORGANISM (FROM GENETIC TO EMOTIONAL) AND OTHER PSYCHO-SOCIAL FACTORS. INTERACTION PRIMARILY OCCURS THROUGHOUT THE CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM, THE ENDOCRINE SYSTEM AND THE IMMUNOLOGIC APPARATUS. INTERACTION WORKS THROUGH CONDITIONED RESPONSES TRAVELLING IN BOTH DIRECTIONS FROM AND TO THE LIMBIC SYSTEM, THE HYPOTHALAMUS-HYPOPHYSIS SUPRARENAL AXIS, THE AUTONOMOUS NERVOUS SYSTEM AND FINALLY, THE LYMPHATIC ORGANS, THE SPLEEN AND GANGLIA, LYMPHOCYTES AND MACROPHAGES. THE MONOGRAPH ANALYSES THE IMPLICATED NEURAL SYSTEMS LOCATED IN THE CORTEX, SUB-CORTICAL NUCLEI AND THE BRAIN STEM. IN ADDITION, ANALYSIS IS GIVEN ABOUT THE CHEMICAL MEDIATORS THAT INTERVENE IN MODULATING THE RESPONSE OF VARIOUS TISSUES, HORMONE SECRETION, PARACRINE SECRETIONS SUCH AS THE VASO-ACTIVE POLYPEPTIDE, PRODUCTION OF PROTEIC MEDIATORS SUCH AS THE INTERLEUKINS AND FINALLY, THE ACTIVATION OF SECONDARY MESSENGERS BENEATH THE CELL MEMBRANE. IN SUMMARY, IT IS ULTIMATELY THE INTEGRATED RESPONSE BY VARIOUS TISSUES THAT EXPLAINS THE DISEASE.