Sympathetic Nervous System and Inflammation. Wilfred Janig

More back up material for writing project.

Sympathetic Nervous System and inflammation Wilfred Janig

a b s t r a c t

Keywords:
Sympathetic nervous system
Inflammation
Immune system
Protection of body tissues
Nociception and pain
The peripheral sympathetic nervous systemis organized into function-specific pathways that transmit the activity
from the central nervous system to its target tissues. The transmission of the impulse activity in the sympathetic
ganglia and to the effector tissues is target cell specific and guarantees that the centrally generated
command is faithfully transmitted. This is the neurobiological basis of autonomic regulations in which the sympathetic
nervous systemis involved. Each sympathetic pathway is connected to distinct central circuits in the spinal
cord, lower and upper brain stem and hypothalamus. In addition to its conventional functions, the
sympathetic nervous systemis involved in protection of body tissues against challenges arising fromthe environment
as well as from within the body. This function includes the modulation of inflammation, nociceptors and
above all the immune system. Primary and secondary lymphoid organs are innervated by sympathetic postganglionic
neurons and processes in the immune tissue are modulated by activity in these sympathetic neurons via
adrenoceptors in the membranes of the immune cells (see Bellinger and Lorton, 2014). Are the primary and secondary
lymphoid organs innervated by a functionally specific sympathetic pathway that is responsible for the
modulation of the functioning of the immune tissue by the brain? Or is this modulation of immune functions a
general function of the sympathetic nervous system independent of its specific functions?Which central circuits
are involved in the neural regulation of the immune system in the context of neural regulation of body protection?
What is the function of the sympatho-adrenal system, involving epinephrine, in the modulation of immune
functions?