Journal
BRAIN BEHAVIOR AND IMMUNITY
Volume 98, Issue -, Pages 310-316Publisher
ACADEMIC PRESS INC ELSEVIER SCIENCE
DOI: 10.1016/j.bbi.2021.08.229
Keywords
Antiviral gene expression; Type I interferon (IFN) expression; Parasympathetic nervous system; Autonomic nervous system
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Funding
- Hope Lab
- National Institutes of Health [1 F31 DA051181-01A1]
- National Science Foundation [2016207607]
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The study found that higher parasympathetic nervous system activity, as indicated by higher RSA, was associated with increased expression of Type I interferon response genes in circulating leukocytes, but not with inflammatory gene expression. This suggests a previously unrecognized immunoregulatory aspect of autonomic nervous system function and highlights a potential biological pathway by which parasympathetic nervous system activity may impact health.
Parasympathetic nervous system activity can downregulate inflammation, but it remains unclear how parasympathetic nervous system activity relates to antiviral activity. The present study examined associations between parasympathetic nervous system activity and cellular antiviral gene regulation in 90 adolescents (Mage = 16.28, SD = 0.73; 51.1% female) who provided blood samples and measures of cardiac respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA), twice, five weeks apart. Using a multilevel analytic framework, we found that higher RSA (an indicator of higher parasympathetic nervous system activity)-both at rest and during paced breathing-was associated with higher expression of Type I interferon (IFN) response genes in circulating leukocytes, even after adjusting for demographic and biological covariates. RSA was not associated with a parallel measure of inflammatory gene expression. These results identify a previously unrecognized immunoregulatory aspect of autonomic nervous system function and highlight a potential biological pathway by which parasympathetic nervous system activity may relate to health.
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