Physiology and Immunology of the Cholinergic Anti-inflammatory Pathway |
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| Launch in standalone player | |
| Air date: | Wednesday, October 24, 2007, 3:00:00 PM |
| Category: | Wednesday Afternoon Lectures |
| Runtime: | 60 minutes |
| NLM Title: | Physiology and immunology of the cholinergic anti-inflammatory pathway [electronic resource] / Kevin J. Tracey. |
| Series: | NIH director's Wednesday afternoon lecture series |
| Author: | Tracey, Kevin J. National Institutes of Health (U.S.) |
| Publisher: | [Bethesda, Md. : National Institutes of Health, 2007] |
| Other Title(s): | NIH director's Wednesday afternoon lecture series |
| Abstract: | (CIT): Cytokine production by the immune system contributes importantly to both health and disease. The nervous system, via an inflammatory reflex of the vagus nerve, can inhibit cytokine release and thereby prevent tissue injury. This efferent neural pathway is termed the cholinergic anti-inflammatory pathway. Signals transduced via the nicotinic acetylcholine 7 subunit on cytokine producing cells downregulate the release of proinflammatory cytokines. Cholinergic agonists inhibit cytokine synthesis (e.g TNF and HMGB1) and protect against cytokine-mediated diseases. Muscarinic brain networks modulate the activity of the cholinergic anti-inflammatory pathway. Stimulation of vagus nerve firing prevents the damaging effects of cytokine release in experimental sepsis, endotoxemia, ischemia/reperfusion injury, hemorrhagic shock, and other inflammatory syndromes. Herein is a review of this physiological, functional anatomical mechanism for neurological regulation of the immune response that begins to define an immunological homunculus. Kevin Tracey, a neurosurgeon by training and a highly cited immunologist, has uncovered groundbreaking evidence that the brain directly controls the immune system. His work revealed that the vagus nerve, which regulates heart rate, digestion, and other essential functions, also governs how the immune system responds to threat. Tracey found that signals from the vagus nerve can temper the production of cytokines, immune system proteins whose overproduction can lead to dangerous inflammatory responses such as sepsis, rheumatoid arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease, and hemorrhagic shock. Since 1992, Tracey has headed a laboratory at the Feinstein Institute for Medical Research and the North Shore University Hospital in Manhasset, New York. He earned a B.S. in chemistry from Boston College in 1979 and an M.D. from Boston University in 1983. Tracey completed his clinical training in neurosurgery at the New York Hospital in 1992. His honors include election to the American Society for Clinical Investigation in 2001 and receipt of lectureships from the Karolinska Institute, Harvard University, Washington University in St. Louis, and others. Tracey is editor in chief of Molecular Medicine and advisory editor of The Journal of Experimental Medicine. He is the author of 240 research papers. The Institute for Scientific Information named him one of the most highly cited researchers in immunology in 2005. Tracey has also written a book, Fatal Sequence: The Killer Within, about his experience caring for a young patient with severe sepsis, an event that helped draw him into immunology research. For more information, visit http://www.northshorelij.com/body.cfm?id=2710 The NIH Director's Wednesday Afternoon Lecture Series includes weekly scientific talks by some of the top researchers in the biomedical sciences worldwide. |
| Subjects: | Cholinergic Fibers--immunology Cholinergic Fibers--physiology Inflammation--immunology Inflammation--physiopathology Vagus Nerve--immunology Vagus Nerve--physiology |
| Publication Types: | Government Publications Lectures |
| Download: | Download
Video How to download a Videocast |
| NLM Classification: | QW 700 |
| NLM ID: | 101319950 |
| CIT File ID: | 14098 |
| CIT Live ID: | 6197 |
| Permanent link: | http://videocast.nih.gov/launch.asp?14098 |
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Enhanced Audio Podcast | 52:32 |
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Enhanced Video Podcast | 52:32 | |