Stefano G B, Cadet P, Dokun A, Scharrer B
Multidisciplinary Center for the Study of Aging, State University of New York, Old Westbury 11568.
Brain Behav Immun. 1990 Dec;4(4):323-9. doi: 10.1016/0889-1591(90)90035-o.
Mytilus edulis has been the subject of recent studies to determine whether the relationship between the immune and nervous systems seen in vertebrates also exists in invertebrates. In the present study the effects of experimentally induced "stressful" stimuli on immunoactive hemocytes were studied in this mollusc. This subpopulation of invertebrate blood cells, resembling vertebrate granulocytes, has been previously shown to produce and react to opioid peptides. Their activation, like that of vertebrate immunocytes, expresses itself in distinctive conformational changes preceding cellular mobilization. The cellular response to "stress" observed is the same as that to the administration of exogenous mammalian opioid peptides. This strongly suggests that under the conditions of stressful stimuli, the immune/defense system can be altered by endogenous neuropeptides. The involvement of opioids in neuroimmunoregulatory phenomena appears to have a long evolutionary history.
紫贻贝一直是近期研究的对象，目的是确定在脊椎动物中所见的免疫和神经系统之间的关系是否也存在于无脊椎动物中。在本研究中，对这种软体动物中实验诱导的“应激”刺激对免疫活性血细胞的影响进行了研究。这种无脊椎动物血细胞亚群类似于脊椎动物的粒细胞，先前已证明其能产生阿片肽并对其作出反应。它们的激活，与脊椎动物免疫细胞的激活一样，在细胞动员之前以独特的构象变化表现出来。观察到的细胞对“应激”的反应与对外源哺乳动物阿片肽给药的反应相同。这有力地表明，在应激刺激条件下，免疫/防御系统可被内源性神经肽改变。阿片类物质参与神经免疫调节现象似乎有着悠久的进化史。
