Cellular and mucosal immune reactions to mental and cold stress: Associations with gender and cardiovascular reactivity

Abstract

To examine gender differences in immune reactions to stress and relationships between immune and cardiovascular reactivity, measures of cellular and mucosal immunity and cardiovascular activity were recorded in 77 men and 78 women at rest and in response to active~mental arithmetic! and passive~cold pressor! stress tasks. Both tasks reduced CD4ϩ T cells and the CD408 ratio. Total lymphocytes, NK cells, CD8ϩ T cells, and secretory immunoglobulin à sIgA! increased with active stress. Passive stress decreased sIgA. At rest, men had more NK cells, less CD4ϩ T cells, and fewer neutrophils than women. Mental stress increased sIgA in men but not women. Cardiovascular reactivity to active stress was associated with increases in NK cells. The data support the hypothesis that stress-related increases in lymphocytes are beta-adrenergically mediated, and suggest that the fall in CD4ϩ T cells may be alpha-adrenergically driven. Mechanisms underlying sIgA reactions are more difficult to determine. Men and women differed in some cell counts, but not in reactivity, although gender influenced sIgA reactions to arithmetic.

Effects of negative emotion and its correlated neural activity on secretory immunoglobulin A

“…Specifically, we found that for individuals whose SIgA levels decreased, the changes were consistent with those of individuals watching a sad video in the study by Labott et al [11] . As for the individuals whose SIgA levels increased in the present study, the changing tendency of SIgA patterned liked those who accomplished the active coping task in other studies [30,35,36] . Although the difference in baseline SIgA concentration between the two groups reached marginal significance, we compared the two groups on their relative change in SIgA concentration levels before and after presentation of the stimuli.…”

“…[30,35,36] . This further suggests that unlike the participants in the "Increasers" who actively regulated their emotion while viewing pictures, individuals in the "Decreasers" just watched passively.…”

Beta-Adrenergic Blockade and Voice: A Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Trial

“…In addition, researchers have hypothesized the existence of gender-specific differences in alpha-and betaadrenergic cardiovascular activity 44 based on reported gender differences in the pressor response; however, findings are equivocal. [49][50][51] LIMITATIONS AND FUTURE DIRECTIONS It could be hypothesized that differences between conditions 4 and 3 in the placebo control group are a more valid representation of stress effects on the voice. It remains possible that participants displayed at least some anxiety in condition 1 because of the nature of the study and that condition 3 offers better insight into resting sympathetic tone.…”

Meningococcal A Vaccination Response is Enhanced by Acute Stress in Men

“…The PASAT has been shown to reliably perturb both cardiovascular and immune function (11)(12)(13). Participants were required to add two sequentially presented single-digit numbers and say the answer out loud.…”