TheScholarsRepository@LLU: Digital Archive of Research, Scholarship & Creative Works
Abstract
Neuroendocrine mediators have been shown to influence a broad spectrum of immune functions suggesting the existence of a neuroimmune regulatory axis effecting feedback control of the immune response. Most studies in support of this paradigm have employed either intact animals or immune cells derived from blood and other tissues. Under these conditions it becomes difficult to cope with numerous variables associated with the complex milieu of the immune system and the interpretation of data. An in vitro model using a murine macrophage cell line, J774, was developed to circumvent these problems. Using this model, macrophages activated by exposure to the biological response modifiers lipopolysaccharide bacillus Calmettc-Guerin, Corynebacterium parvum, α + ß interferon and γ-interferon exhibited a readily observed and quantitated chemiluminescent oxidative burst. This activity was modulated by the neuropeptides ß-endorphin, dynorphin A, neurotensin and tuftsin as well as the neuroendocrine hormones norepinephrine γ-aminobutyric acid and the pineal hormone melatonin. In the case of norepinephrine, the mechanism of action may involve hormone-mediated hyperpolarization of the macrophage membrane potential
