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The immune response can invoke action from many different parts of the body, including the blood and hempoetic (blood-forming) organs such as the thymus gland, spleen and marrow, the liver, adrenal glands and the nervous system. The main job of this immune "system" is to recognize self and alien, know which is which and reject the alien. By doing so properly, the immune response protects us from disease.
White blood cells (lymphocytes), for example can surround, engulf, immobilize and inactivate invading bacteria in a wound. Pus is the result, a combined lymphocyte-captive-bacteria conglomerate. Proteins in blood serum make up the so-called "humoral" immune system and can selectively bind with other proteins and render them non-reactive. A virus, for example, has a protein shell--normally used to bind itself to the cell it infects-- that can be detected, then bound by these serum antibodies, and, since the virus cannot lock onto cells, it is neutralized. Often the serum (humoral) response works in conjunction with the lymphocytes and the two, cellular and humoral, augment each other's effectiveness. The liver synthesizes various serum components--globulins for example--which are recruited in the humoral immunoresponse. Adrenal glands come in two parts: the inner, medulla, that secretes the flight or fight hormone, adrenalin, and an outer shell, the cortex, that makes various steroids, many of which, e.g., cortisone, reduce inflammation. What the nervous system does in immunoresponsiveness is a brand new chapter in the annals of medicine. This relatively new branch of medicine, Psycho-Immunology, began with bits and pieces of research around the mid-to-late 1970's. In 1974, I recall, a close friend of mine, "Peter," who was then a pre-doctoral student in physiological psychology had been assigned to assist his major professor in reviewing a research grant proposal that had been submitted to the National Institutes of Health. He was so astounded by what he had been reading, that he called me long distance for the sole purpose of telling me about this. "...strange and almost bizarre..." (his words) research program.
In the normal course of submitting proposals for research grants, preliminary research has already been done, and the proposal is a request for additional money with which to pursue more intensive research along the same lines. Contained within the proposal is the complete description, with methods and findings, of the preliminary research itself. My friend divulged only the essence of the preliminary research findings for a research program with the working title: "Learned Immuno-Responses in the Laboratory Rat."
The copyright of the article Psycho-Immunology: Patient Heal Thyself. in Health Psychology is owned by . Permission to republish Psycho-Immunology: Patient Heal Thyself. in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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