Laboratory of Biomedical Science, The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research, 350 Community Drive, Manhasset, New York 11030, USA.
Science. 2011 Oct 7;334(6052):98-101. doi: 10.1126/science.1209985. Epub 2011 Sep 15.
Neural circuits regulate cytokine production to prevent potentially damaging inflammation. A prototypical vagus nerve circuit, the inflammatory reflex, inhibits tumor necrosis factor-α production in spleen by a mechanism requiring acetylcholine signaling through the α7 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor expressed on cytokine-producing macrophages. Nerve fibers in spleen lack the enzymatic machinery necessary for acetylcholine production; therefore, how does this neural circuit terminate in cholinergic signaling? We identified an acetylcholine-producing, memory phenotype T cell population in mice that is integral to the inflammatory reflex. These acetylcholine-producing T cells are required for inhibition of cytokine production by vagus nerve stimulation. Thus, action potentials originating in the vagus nerve regulate T cells, which in turn produce the neurotransmitter, acetylcholine, required to control innate immune responses.
神经回路调节细胞因子的产生,以防止潜在的破坏性炎症。迷走神经回路的一个典型范例,即炎症反射,通过一种需要在产生细胞因子的巨噬细胞上表达的α7 烟碱型乙酰胆碱受体通过乙酰胆碱信号传导的机制,抑制脾脏中肿瘤坏死因子-α的产生。脾脏中的神经纤维缺乏产生乙酰胆碱所需的酶机制; 因此,这个神经回路如何终止于胆碱能信号传导中?我们在小鼠中鉴定出一种产生乙酰胆碱的记忆表型 T 细胞群体,这是炎症反射的重要组成部分。这些产生乙酰胆碱的 T 细胞对于迷走神经刺激抑制细胞因子产生是必需的。因此,起源于迷走神经的动作电位调节 T 细胞,而 T 细胞反过来又产生控制先天免疫反应所需的神经递质乙酰胆碱。