Chronic varied stress modulates experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis in Wistar rats

CORREA SG; RODRIGUEZ GALAN MC,; RIVERO VE; RIERA CM

ACADEMIC PRESS INC ELSEVIER SCIENCE

Año: 1998 vol. 12 p. 134 - 134

tress disturbs homeostasis by altering the equilibrium of various hormones which havea significant impact on immune responses. Few studies have examined the influence ofstressors on autoimmune disease in animal models. In our work, we studied the effects oflong-term exposure (14 days) to chronic varied stress (CVS) in a model of experimentalautoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) in Wistar rats. We studied whether the exposure toCVS before or after the immune challenge would correlate with differences in the clinicalcourse of the disease. We also examined whether the CVS would modulate the magnitudeof the cellular or the humoral immune response. We observed opposite effects on theclinical signs in animals stressed before or after the immune challenge. The clinical signs ofthe disease were attenuated in animals stressed before but not after the immune challenge.Relationships were found in the modulation of the clinical severity rel