Pehlivanoğlu B, Balkanci Z D, Ridvanağaoğlu A Y, Durmazlar N, Oztürk G, Erbaş D, Okur H
Department of Physiology, Hacettepe University Medical Faculty, Ankara, Turkey.
Arch Physiol Biochem. 2001 Oct;109(4):383-7. doi: 10.1076/apab.109.4.383.4234.
Stress is a factor found to be involved in the etiology of many diseases. Gender and menstrual cycle phases are other factors affecting the predisposition of individuals for certain diseases. Results from animal and human studies suggest that the distribution of immune system cells may change at different phases of the menstrual cycle. Acute mental stress in humans alters immune variables, too. The increase in the number of natural killer (NK) cells is the most consistent finding among the immune variables, though there are controversies for the other lymphocyte groups. Nitric oxide (NO) as an immune mediator has an unsettled role whether it causes the redistribution of the immune cells, or is an end product of lymphocyte activation. This study was planned to investigate the effect of mental stress on lymphocyte subtypes and the role of NO, for men and women at different phases of the cycle. For this purpose, healthy men (n = 10) and women (n = 10), during the follicular and luteal phases underwent Stroop colour-word interference and cold pressor tests. The immune system responses before and after the tests were determined by cell counts with the flowcytometer. Menstrual cycle phase was ascertained by plasma estrogen and progesterone measurements. Stress response was evaluated by blood pressure (BP) and heart rate (HR) measurements throughout the tests and plasma cortisol and urinary metanephrine and vanillylmandelic acid (VMA) measurements before and after the tests. Plasma and urinary NO determinations were performed before and after the test was completed. All the results were analysed with the appropriate statistical methods. The luteal phase differed from the other groups due to the presence of suppressed immune response to acute stress, including decreased CD4/CD8 ratio and NK cell percentage. On the other hand, acute stress caused a shift from cellular to humoral immunity in men. As indicated by these results, individual reaction towards stress is affected by gender and menstrual cycle phase. NO appears to be a possible effector molecule for these differences.
压力是一个被发现与许多疾病病因相关的因素。性别和月经周期阶段是影响个体对某些疾病易感性的其他因素。动物和人体研究结果表明，免疫系统细胞的分布可能在月经周期的不同阶段发生变化。人类的急性精神压力也会改变免疫变量。自然杀伤（NK）细胞数量的增加是免疫变量中最一致的发现，尽管其他淋巴细胞组存在争议。一氧化氮（NO）作为一种免疫介质，其在引起免疫细胞重新分布方面的作用尚未确定，或者它是否是淋巴细胞激活的终产物。本研究旨在调查精神压力对不同月经周期阶段的男性和女性淋巴细胞亚群的影响以及NO的作用。为此，10名健康男性和10名健康女性在卵泡期和黄体期接受了Stroop颜色-文字干扰和冷加压试验。通过流式细胞仪计数细胞来确定试验前后的免疫系统反应。通过血浆雌激素和孕酮测量来确定月经周期阶段。在整个试验过程中通过测量血压（BP）和心率（HR）以及试验前后测量血浆皮质醇、尿间甲肾上腺素和香草扁桃酸（VMA）来评估应激反应。在试验完成前后进行血浆和尿液NO测定。所有结果均采用适当的统计方法进行分析。黄体期与其他组不同，因为对急性应激的免疫反应受到抑制，包括CD4 / CD8比值和NK细胞百分比降低。另一方面，急性应激导致男性的免疫从细胞免疫向体液免疫转变。这些结果表明，个体对应激的反应受性别和月经周期阶段的影响。NO似乎是这些差异的一个可能的效应分子。
