The Wiley-Blackwell Handbook of Psychoneuroimmunology

Book Preface

During the past decade the biological and behavioral sciences have become increasingly intertwined, as research continues to reinforce the notion that physical and psychological health are a function of interactive biological systems. Mental ill-health as a reflection of deficits in neural functions is potentially precipitated and/or perpetuated by systemic factors engineered by immunological processes; for these are now understood to be modulators of neural activity, and ultimately the cognitive and emotional life of the organism. Similarly, environmental and physiological events, both prior to and after birth, can impact neurodevelopmental and behavioral processes, as well as endocrine and immunological functions. These circumstances serve as the basis for immunological theories for the formation of autistic spectrum disorders and schizophrenia, as well as potential vulnerabilities that set the stage for how later life events influence physiological and psychological adaptation during adult life and the ageing process. Debilitating neuropathological conditions, such as Alzheimer’s like dementia and Parkinsons’s disease, in which neurodegeneration progressively destroys the motoric, cognitive and emotional lives of the individual, have resurrected and redefined the meaning of “neuroinflammation.” This is a hotly pursued process that involves parenchymal glial cells of the brain, as well as the contributions of systemic inflammatory processes that emanate from the immune system. This area has increased attention on the biological functions of astrocytes and microglial cells, and the recognition that they are as much a part of brain function, as oligdendrocytes, the myelinating cells that expedite communication between neurons. Finally, it has also become clear that nutritional, metabolic and cardiovascular health are intimately linked to inflammatory and/or immunological activities, emphasizing the importance of the immune system as both a contributor and reflection of health status across different provinces of physiological function.

In protecting the organism against infectious disease, the hematopoetic cells that give rise to the heterogeneity of lymphocytes, monocytes and other cellular forms – in short, the immune system – are intimately linked to the activities of the central nervous system. This now is an established fact, as the contents of this handbook make abundantly clear. Furthermore, this relationship has served to emphasize a multifactorial, integrative systems approach to the scientific investigation of disease. Of course, no one involved in this field, and especially the authors assembled for this volume, is surprised by this, since reductionistic approaches that seek unitary explanations for complex phenomena are bound to encounter disappointment. Indeed, Robert Ader in his 1980 Presidential Address to the American Psychosomatic Society, given on the eve of his seminal publication, Psychoneuroimmunology (Ader, 1981), gave eloquent voice to this point:

Despite the most sophisticated strategies designed to achieve uniformity, variability remains one of the most ubiquitous results of all natural and contrived biological experiments. The biomedical scientist, operating within the conceptual and technical constraints imposed by the disciplinary boundaries of a reductionistic philosophy, attempts to control or minimize (or ignore) variability. For the psychosomaticist, such variability is the starting point of his research; it defines the operation of variables with which to be concerned. (Ader, 1980, p. 307)

The contents of this handbook continue to echo these thoughts, and provide a comprehensive source of information on the history, methodology, and conceptual development of different aspects of research into psychoneuroimmunology. In doing so, a balance between traditional and emerging topics of psychoneuroimmunological research is provided that focuses on the clinical and practical implications of findings from human and animal empirical research.While the specialist reader will appreciate the gains made in psychoneuroimmunology, the newcomer to this field will receive an informed introduction to the field, and some of the prominent approaches that currently are under investigation. Some stratification has been incorporated into the book, with initial chapters providing basic information on the immune system, “hardwired” innervation of lymphoid organs, and neuroscience approaches to examining effects on immune function. These early conceptual and methodological chapters are followed by material that addresses entry of molecular and cellular elements of the immune system into the brain and spinal cord, and the consequences of this to neural function, nociception, or pain, and feedback regulation of immunological and metabolic processes. Immunomodulation through catecholamine, neuropeptide, and neuroendocrine processes is addressed at a basic level, but then moves on to the effects of stressors on immune function. Many of these and subsequent chapters address methodological issues and potential pitfalls when interpreting the results of human and animal studies.