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54 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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What systems are activated by stress? (2) |
Sympathetic Nervous System HPA axis |
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What does the "HPA" in HPA Axis stand for? |
"Hypothalamus, Pituitary gland, Adrenal cortex |
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5 steps to activation of the HPA Axis: |
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Catabolism |
Mobilization of the body's energy resources |
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What are the effects of catabolism in response to stress? |
-Adrenal glands secrete epinephrine (adrenaline), norepinephrine (noradrenaline), and steroid stress hormones. -Epinephrine affects glucose metabolism, norep. increases blood flow to muscles. -Blood pressure increases |
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What are the long term health effects of high blood pressure? |
Long term high blood pressure contributes to cardiovascular disease |
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What is the structure in the body that allows all of the sympathetic nervous system to be activated at once? |
Sympathetic chain ganglia |
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What Neurotransmitter do effector muscles in the sympathetic nervous system respond to ? |
Norepinephrine (noradrenaline) |
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What does the adrenal cortex release? |
Steroid stress hormones like cortisol
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What does the adrenal medulla release? |
Norepinephrine and epinephrine (NE) and (EPI) |
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What are the short term effects of glucocorticoids (like Cortisol)? |
-Allow for sustained level of activity in face of stress -Help breakdown of protein and conversion to glucose -Make fats available for energy -Suppress release of sex steroid hormones (testosterone, estrogen) |
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What may a person with increased levels of cortisol act like?
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Withdrawn and inactive |
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What are some of the long-term effects of stress and increased cortisol levels? |
- Increased blood pressure -Damage to muscle tissue -Steroid diabetes -Infertility -Inhibition of growth -Inhibition of inflammatory response -Suppression of immune system |
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Sapolsky (1986) |
-Found long term exposure to glucocorticoids (like cortisol) destroys neurons in CA1 field of hippocampus. |
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How do glucocorticoids destroy neurons? |
Decrease entry of glucose Decrease reuptake of glutamate Excess glutamate can be toxic by allowing too much Ca+ to enter cells via NMDA receptors |
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Immune system that is too weak vs. immune system that is too strong/unselective |
Too weak = viruses and bacteria damage body. Too strong/unselective = attacks self cells, creating autoimmune diseases. |
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Nonspecific responses of the immune system |
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What is the inflammatory response to tissue damage? |
Release prostaglandins, histamine, tumor necrosis-factor alpha |
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What does interferon do? |
suppresses ability of the virus to reproduce |
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What do Natural Killer cells do? |
Attach to certain kinds of tumor cells and virally-infected cells Release interferon Directly kill cells upon contact |
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What do macrophages do? |
phagocytosis (eat pathogens) |
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What do mucous membranes do in the immune system? |
Able to destroy many foreign microorganisms. Trap pathogens, then either digest them or hold them until immune cells come along. Ex: nose, eyes, mouth, genitals |
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What is "Psychoneuroimmunology"? |
Branch of neuroscience involved with interactions b/w 3 things: 1) environmental stimuli 2) nervous system 3 immune system |
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Antigen |
Protein present on microorganism that immune system uses as a marker to identify microorganism as non-self |
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Antibody |
Protein produced by cell of immune system recognizes antigens present on invading microorganism |
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Specific responses in immune system |
B-cells T-cells Immunoglobin (antibodies) |
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What are B-cells? -where do they originate? -what do they use in their immune response? |
White blood cells that originate in bone marrow -Antibody-mediated response (humoral response) |
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What are T cells? -Where do they originate? -What do they use to effect an immune response? |
-White blood cells that originate in thymus gland
-Cell-mediated response -Either kill pathogens themselves or help other elements of immune system kill pathogens |
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What is an immunoglobin? |
An antibody that can bind to antigens and helps destroy pathogens |
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What are B cells activated by? |
Helper T cells |
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What is the mechanism of a B-Cell immune response? |
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What are the 2 main types of T cell? |
Cytotoxic T cell (Tc) Helper T cell (Th) |
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What are the the two types of T helper cells? |
Th1 Th2 |
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Cytotoxic T cells |
Cellular immune response Kill cell directly or call other WBC to help |
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T-helper cells |
Activate B cells and Tc cells Primary target of HIV infection |
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Th1 Cells |
-Control cell-mediated response --> fight intracellular pathogens like viruses. -Releases cytokines IL-2 and interferon gamma -Activate Tc and NK cells (cell-mediated) |
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Th2 cells |
-Controls AB-mediated response --> fight extracellular pathogens -Release cytokines IL-4, IL-6, IL-10 -Activate B cells |
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What are cytokines? |
Category of chemicals Released by certain WBCs when they detect pathogens Causes other WBCs to proliferate and mount attack against an invader |
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How does Ebola kill you? |
Not the virus that kills you, it is your own immune system via a cytokine storm (release all immune response at once) |
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Ebola mechanism of action |
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What is immunocompetence and how is it assessed? |
How well the immune system is operating Assessed by measuring 2 things: 1) levels of WBCs and AB present in blood/saliva 2) Testing WBC activity by exposing them to pathogens |
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Depression and the immune system; Colon et al., 1991. -What did they study? -what did they find? |
Studied leukemia patients undergoing bone marrow transplants. Depressed patients: 12 of 13 died within 1 year. Non-depressed patients: 39% still alive after 1 year. |
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Academic stress and immunity: Glaser et al., 1985, 1986. -What did they study? -What did they find? |
-Studied forty 2nd-year med students. Tested immune functioning 6 weeks before finals and again during finals. -Found levels of WBCs, activity of WBCs, amount of interferon secreted by NK cells were all significantly decreased during exams |
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How does sense of control over one's situation affect stress and the immune system? |
Having a sense of control over one's situation decreases negative effects of stress on the immune system (Visintainer et al., 1982) |
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Visintainer et al., 1982 What did they study? What did they find? |
Implanted cancer tumors into 3 groups of rats 1) Shocked them, but could escape shock. 30% died 2) Shocked them, couldn't escape. 73% died 3) No shock. 50% died Having control over self is a good thing. |
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Segerstrom and Miller, 2004 -What did they study? -What did they find? |
-Meta-analysis of 300 stress-studies. -Found that all of the following affected immune system: 1) acute stressors (5-100 minutes) 2) Brief baturalistic stressors (e.g. exams) 3) Stressful event sequences (spouse death, natural disasters give rise to series of challenges) 4) Chronic stressors |
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Effect of acute stress on immunity |
Immune system temporarily boosted during acute period (5-100 minutes) Increased NK cells Increased IgA (kind of AB) |
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Effects of brief, naturalistic stressors on immunity |
Suppression of cellular immunity -->Decrease in interferon gamma Humoral immunity NOT suppressed --> Increase in IL-6 and IL-10 |
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Effects of stressful event sequences on immunity |
No obvious pattern of results when all studies were combined in Segerstrom and Miller, 2004. |
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Effects of chronic stressors on immunity |
Examples: unemployment, caring for someone with dementia. --->Negative effects on all measures of immune system functioning. |
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Factors that affect stress (2) |
1) Perceived loss of control (increased stress, increased poor health due to higher cortisol lvls) 2) Optimism (reduces stress because happier) |
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What is the antibody that is associated with mood? How does it change when you are happy/unhappy? |
IgA Decreases when unhappy or depressed, increasing risk of respiratory infections. IgA = first line of defense against pathogens in upper respiratory tract and GI tract. |
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What specifically happens when stressed that lowers immunity? |
-Increased Cortisol levels --> suppress production of immune cells -Stress causes release of endogenous opioids, which suppress activity of NK cells |
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What is the result of a cytokine storm from Ebola infection? (3 steps) |
1) Makes blood vessel walls more permeable. 2) Causes release of nitric oxide, which things the blood and damages vessels. 3) Reduces blood pressure to dangerous levels. |
