ABSTRACT
One of the long-term objectives of research on aging must be to define the mechanisms underlying age and stress-related changes in immunocompetence and susceptibility to infection. This chapter describes several animal models of aging and immunosenecence, while giving particular attention to neuroimmune mechanisms by which age and behavior affect viral pathogenesis and immunity. The neuroendocrine responses to stress, mediated through the activation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal, HPA axis and sympathetic nervous system, SNS, intersect and modulate immune response pathways, and, through the mechanisms delineated previously, after cellular and humoral immunity. Surgical adrenalectomy (ADX) and the administration of exogenous corticosterone were used to examine the effects of adrenal hormones on the restraint-induced suppression of virus-specific lympohocyte activation and lymphocyte trafficking. Overall, these studies on the mechanisms of neuroendocrine immune interactions during viral infection indicate roles for both glucocorticoids and catecholamines in the modulation of anti-viral cellular immune responses.
