• Psychoneuroimmunology: a Brief overview of literature
  • Fatemeh Hassani,1,*
    1. Post graduate Department of Midwifery, Faculty of Medicine, Kerman Branch, Islamic Azad University, Kerman, Iran


  • Introduction: Around 200 AD, Galen observed that breast cancer was more prevalent among melancholic women. Since the mid-1970s, an interdisciplinary field known as Psychoneuroimmunology (PNI) has arisen. PNI investigates the interplay and communications among the brain, behaviour, immune, and endocrine systems. Neurons are able to release and respond to pro-inflammatory cytokines, while immune cells can release and receive to neurotransmitters. This explains how the nervous and endocrine systems are connected in the same pathway and share signals to create an integrated behavior. Although many aspects of PNI interactions are complex and require further investigation, fundamentally PNI describes the relationship between psychological and physiological health. Mental disorders influence biological health and physiological diseases are associated with appearance of specific behaviors like irritability. This overview aims to provide a clear and brief description of PNI knowledge to help healthcare workers develop effective treatment protocols.
  • Methods: After providing keywords from MESH vocabulary thesaurus, preparation an overview study started from search in Pubmed, Google scholar and Elsevier databases. A total of 1135 studies was found which reduces to 183 after limit time in recent studies 2018-2024. According to title and abstracts 14 eligible studies included this overview.
  • Results: As a psychological condition, stress can significantly impact the immune system. When a mammal experiences stress, the HPA axis starts to secrete of glucocorticoids, which bind to receptors on immune cells like monocytes and macrophages. This event is initially able to decrease pro-inflammatory cytokines, but prolonged stress can lead to glucocorticoid resistance and sustained inflammation. Psychological stress can also change gene expression by increasing levels of adrenaline, noradrenaline, and cortisol. Over time, high levels of serum cortisol known as hypercortisolemia, can reduce the lymphatic tissue of the spleen and thymus so that the body's immunity becomes poor. stress can suppress immunity, increase inflammation and contribute to disease symptoms. A significant portion of nervous system growth and development depends on elements like iron. Stress and psychological pressure can decrease absorption and homeostasis of iron also leading to iron deficiency which can disrupt nervous system function. Stress-induced iron deficiency during pregnancy leads to impaired fetal neurodevelopment that affects memory and maternal-child bonding. Additionally, early-life stress can cause physiological changes in the structure of the hippocampus, synapses and cerebral cortex that reduce learning abilities. Patients with depression are often at higher risk for diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, cardiovascular and autoimmune diseases. Baseline diagnosis of depression is often associated with elevated levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines and C-reactive protein (CRP) which shows increased inflammation can contribute depression. Combining antidepressant treatments with common treatments for rheumatoid arthritis patients can sometimes result in improved therapeutic effectiveness. inflammation is one of the factors that affects psychological health status; sometimes cause of inflammation is recognized as cause of psychiatric disorders. Evidence suggests that aspirin as an anti-inflammatory drug modify some depressive-like behaviors. Environmental conditions like isolation and social rejection associated with the expression of genes related to inflammation markers. Conversely, social support decreases inflammation factors such as CRP, interleukin-6 (IL-6), and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α). Oxytocin released following social support directly affects immune cells, reduces inflammation and promotes wound healing.
  • Conclusion: Physiological and psychological health condition are closely interconnected. Environmental situations such as social support and stress reduction can enhance biological outcomes of treatments. it is recommended to consider psychological, emotional and mental health of patients in treatment protocols to achieve better biological results.
  • Keywords: Psychoneuroimmunology, Psychophysiology, Psychoimmunology, affect, health