Biomaterial Database

Receptor-mediated interaction between the sympathetic nervous system and immune system in inflammation. 2001

G Haskó

Department of Surgery, UMD-New Jersey Medical School, Newark 07103, USA. haskoge@umdnj.edu

The sympathetic nervous system plays a central role in establishing communication between the central nervous system and the immune system during inflammation. Inflammation activates the sympathetic nervous system, which causes release of the transmitters of the sympathetic nervous system in the periphery. The transmitters of the sympathetic nervous system are the catecholamines noradrenaline and adrenaline and the purines ATP, adenosine, and inosine. Once these transmitters are released, they stimulate both presynaptic receptors on nerve terminals and post-synaptic receptors on immune cells. The receptors that are sensitive to catecholamines are termed adrenoceptors, whereas the receptors that bind purines are called purinoceptors. Stimulation of the presynaptic receptors exerts an autoregulatory effect on the release of transmitters. Ligation of the postsynaptic receptors on inflammatory cells modulates the inflammatory activities of these cells. The present review summarizes some of the most important aspects of the current state of knowledge about the interactions between the sympathetic nervous system and the immune system during inflammation with a special emphasis on the role of adreno and purinoceptors.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D007107	Immune System	The body's defense mechanism against foreign organisms or substances and deviant native cells. It includes the humoral immune response and the cell-mediated response and consists of a complex of interrelated cellular, molecular, and genetic components.	Immune Systems,System, Immune,Systems, Immune
D007249	Inflammation	A pathological process characterized by injury or destruction of tissues caused by a variety of cytologic and chemical reactions. It is usually manifested by typical signs of pain, heat, redness, swelling, and loss of function.	Innate Inflammatory Response,Inflammations,Inflammatory Response, Innate,Innate Inflammatory Responses
D011956	Receptors, Cell Surface	Cell surface proteins that bind signalling molecules external to the cell with high affinity and convert this extracellular event into one or more intracellular signals that alter the behavior of the target cell (From Alberts, Molecular Biology of the Cell, 2nd ed, pp693-5). Cell surface receptors, unlike enzymes, do not chemically alter their ligands.	Cell Surface Receptor,Cell Surface Receptors,Hormone Receptors, Cell Surface,Receptors, Endogenous Substances,Cell Surface Hormone Receptors,Endogenous Substances Receptors,Receptor, Cell Surface,Surface Receptor, Cell
D000818	Animals	Unicellular or multicellular, heterotrophic organisms, that have sensation and the power of voluntary movement. Under the older five kingdom paradigm, Animalia was one of the kingdoms. Under the modern three domain model, Animalia represents one of the many groups in the domain EUKARYOTA.	Animal,Metazoa,Animalia
D013564	Sympathetic Nervous System	The thoracolumbar division of the autonomic nervous system. Sympathetic preganglionic fibers originate in neurons of the intermediolateral column of the spinal cord and project to the paravertebral and prevertebral ganglia, which in turn project to target organs. The sympathetic nervous system mediates the body's response to stressful situations, i.e., the fight or flight reactions. It often acts reciprocally to the parasympathetic system.	Nervous System, Sympathetic,Nervous Systems, Sympathetic,Sympathetic Nervous Systems,System, Sympathetic Nervous,Systems, Sympathetic Nervous