Neuroimmune system | |
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Details | |
System | Neuroimmune |
Identifiers | |
MeSH | D015213 |
Anatomical terminology |
The neuroimmune system is a system of structures and processes involving the biochemical and electrophysiological interactions between the nervous system and immune system which protect neurons from pathogens. It serves to protect neurons against disease by maintaining selectively permeable barriers (e.g., the blood–brain barrier and blood–cerebrospinal fluid barrier), mediating neuroinflammation and wound healing in damaged neurons, and mobilizing host defenses against pathogens.[2][4][5]
The neuroimmune system and peripheral immune system are structurally distinct. Unlike the peripheral system, the neuroimmune system is composed primarily of glial cells;[1][5] among all the hematopoietic cells of the immune system, only mast cells are normally present in the neuroimmune system.[6] However, during a neuroimmune response, certain peripheral immune cells are able to cross various blood or fluid–brain barriers in order to respond to pathogens that have entered the brain.[2] For example, there is evidence that following injury macrophages and T cells of the immune system migrate into the spinal cord.[7] Production of immune cells of the complement system have also been documented as being created directly in the central nervous system.[8]
Glia (including astrocytes, microglia, and oligodendrocytes), which constitute the majority of cells in the brain, have many of the same receptors as neurons, secrete neurotransmitters and neurotrophic and neuroinflammatory factors, control clearance of neurotransmitters from synaptic clefts, and are intimately involved in synaptic plasticity. Despite their prevalence and spectrum of functions, appreciation of their potential general importance has been elusive since their identification in the mid-1800s, and only relatively recently have they been gaining their due respect. This development of appreciation has been nurtured by the growing awareness that drugs of abuse, including the psychostimulants, affect glial activity, and glial activity, in turn, has been found to modulate the effects of the psychostimulants
Collectively, these pathological processes contribute to neurotoxicity (e.g., increased BBB permeability, inflammation, neuronal degeneration, cell death) and neuropsychiatric impairments (e.g., cognitive deficits, mood disorders)
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