Basic research on the effect that coping behavior against emotional stress has on immunity.

本研究的目的是探讨对压力源的获得性应对行为是否可以预防压力引起的身体疾病的出现。为此，我们利用直接电刺激大脑情绪中枢引起的情绪应激，来阐明情绪应激下关闭行为对免疫变化的影响。我们的研究建议：1。当电刺激下丘脑时，会引起一种被称为不安的情绪行为，这是一种情绪压力，外周血粒细胞数量增加，相反，T淋巴细胞数量减少。外周血中白细胞数量的变化可能表明免疫系统处于“战斗状态”。然而，如果这种“战斗状态”持续太长时间，那么免疫系统可能会耗尽。当猫学会了关闭行为，即猫能够关闭下丘脑的刺激时，由不安引起的粒细胞数量的增加被抑制了。因此，适当的应对行为可以抑制不必要的免疫激活的诱导，从而防止免疫衰竭。行为分析和血浆皮质醇和儿茶酚胺浓度水平的测量表明，关闭免疫行为的影响不仅仅是由于猫的体育锻炼。总的来说，据报道，由压力引起的免疫功能的抑制可能会促进诸如感染或肿瘤等疾病的发展。我们的研究表明，学习一种适当的应对厌恶情绪压力的行为可以抑制压力引起的一些不必要的免疫变化，从而预防压力相关身体疾病的发生。

The aim of this study is to examine whether or not an acquired coping behavior to a stressor can prevent the emergence of physical diseases caused by stress. For that purpose, we used emotional stress caused by direct electrical stimulation to the center of emotion in the brain in order to elucidate the effects of switch-off behavior on the changes in immunity under emotional stress.Our study suggested :1. When electrical stimulation to the hypothalamus, which elicits an emotional behavior called restlessness, and is known to be one kind of emotional stress, the number of peripheral blood granulocytes increased while, in contrast, the number of T lymphocytes decreased. These changes in the number of leukocytes in the peripheral blood might indicate that the immune system is in a "battle state". However, if such a "battle state" continues for too long a period, then the immune system may become exhausted.2. When the cat learned switch-off behavior in which the cat was able to turn off the hypothalamic stimulation, then the increase in the number of granulocytes caused by restlessness was suppressed. As a result, appropriate coping behavior to an aversive emotional stress may suppress the induction of unnecessary immunity activation, thereby preventing immune exhaustion.3. A behavioral analysis and the measurement of the plasma concentration levels of cortisol and catecholamines revealed that the effect of the switch-off behavior in immunity was not merely due to the physical exercise of the cat.In general, the suppression of the immune function caused by stress has been reported to possibly enhance the development of such diseases as infections or tumors. Our study suggested that learning an appropriate coping behavior to aversive emotional stress may suppress some of the needless changes in immunity caused by stress, and thereby prevent the onset of stress-related physical diseases.