Stress and immune modulation in fish

• Published in: Developmental and comparative immunology Vol. 35; no. 12; pp. 1366 - 1375
• Main Author: Tort, Lluis
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Elsevier Ltd 01.12.2011
• Subjects: Animals; Cortisol; Cytokines; Cytokines - immunology; fish; Fishes - immunology; Fishes - metabolism; Hormones; Hormones - immunology; HPI axis; immune response; Immune suppression; Immune System - physiology; Immunity, Innate; innate immunity; Neuro-immune–endocrine interaction; Neuroimmunomodulation; neurosecretory system; Neurosecretory Systems - immunology; Stress; stress tolerance; Stress, Physiological - immunology; Cytokines; Immune suppression; HPI axis; Neuro-immune–endocrine interaction; Cortisol; Hormones; Stress
• ISSN: 0145-305X; 1879-0089; 1879-0089
• DOI: 10.1016/j.dci.2011.07.002

► Stress and immune suppression. ► Immune modulation by hormones. ► Neuro-immune–endocrine connections during the stress response. Stress is an event that most animals experience and that induces a number of responses involving all three regulatory systems, neural, endocrine and immune. When the stressor is acute and short-term, the response pattern is stimulatory and the fish immune response shows an activating phase that specially enhances innate responses. If the stressor is chronic the immune response shows suppressive effects and therefore the chances of an infection may be enhanced. In addition, coping with the stressor imposes an allostatic cost that may interfere with the needs of the immune response. In this paper the mechanisms behind these immunoregulatory changes are reviewed and the role of the main neuroendocrine mechanisms directly affecting the building of the immune response and their consequences are considered.