Evidence of Long-range nerve pathways connecting and coordinating activity in secondary lymph organs

Bioelectronic Medicine

Sangeeta S. Chavan¹  Kevin J. Tracey¹  Stavros Zanos¹  John Graf²  Victoria Cotero²  Jeffrey Ashe²  Tzu-Jen Kao²  Christine Morton²  Christopher M. Puleo² 

[1] Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research, Manhasset, NY, USA;General Electric Research, Niskayuna, NY, USA;

关键词: Neuromodulation;    Bioelectronic medicine;    Immunology;    Neuroscience;    Neural immune reflexes;    Biomedical engineering;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s42234-020-00056-2

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundPeripheral nerve reflexes enable organ systems to maintain long-term physiological homeostasis while responding to rapidly changing environmental conditions. Electrical nerve stimulation is commonly used to activate these reflexes and modulate organ function, giving rise to an emerging class of therapeutics called bioelectronic medicines. Dogma maintains that immune cell migration to and from organs is mediated by inflammatory signals (i.e. cytokines or pathogen associated signaling molecules). However, nerve reflexes that regulate immune function have only recently been elucidated, and stimulation of these reflexes for therapeutic effect has not been fully investigated.MethodsWe utilized both electrical and ultrasound-based nerve stimulation to activate nerve pathways projecting to specific lymph nodes. Tissue and cell analysis of the stimulated lymph node, distal lymph nodes and immune organs is then utilized to measure the stimulation-induced changes in neurotransmitter/neuropeptide concentrations and immune cellularity in each of these sites.Results and conclusionsIn this report, we demonstrate that activation of nerves and stimulated release of neurotransmitters within a local lymph node results in transient retention of immune cells (e.g. lymphocytes and neutrophils) at that location. Furthermore, such stimulation results in transient changes in neurotransmitter concentrations at distal organs of the immune system, spleen and liver, and mobilization of immune cells into the circulation. This report will enable future studies in which stimulation of these long-range nerve connections between lymphatic and immune organs can be applied for clinical purpose, including therapeutic modulation of cellularity during vaccination, active allergic response, or active auto-immune disease.

【 授权许可】

CC BY