Cholinergic impact on neuroplasticity drives muscarinic M1 receptor mediated differentiation into neurons.

Objectives: Increasing evidence indicates that canonical neurotransmitters act as regulatory signals during neuroplasticity. Here, we report that muscarinic cholinergic neurotransmission stimulates differentiation of adult neural stem cells in vitro.

Methods: Adult neural stem cells (ANSC) dissociated from the adult mouse hippocampus were expanded in culture with basic fibroblast growth factor (BFGF) and epidermal growth factor (EGF).

Hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis function and the cellular immune response in former preterm children.

Context: Animal data suggest that adverse early experiences may affect endocrine and immune functioning in later life.

Objective: Our objective was to assess the impact of preterm delivery on hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis functioning, heart rate responses, and immune function.

Participants: Former preterm children [aged 8-14 yr (n = 18)], sex and age-matched full-term born control children (n = 18), data on birth weight, gestational age, birth weight for gestational age (in sd units), actual body weight, height, and body mass index were assessed.

Increased responsiveness of the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis to stress in newborns with atopic disposition.

In previous studies, atopic patients showed attenuated cortisol responses to psychosocial stress which is suggestive of a hyporeactive hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis in this patient group. Regarding the anti-inflammatory role of glucocorticoids, reduced responsiveness of the HPA axis under stress may be one potential explanation of stress-induced exacerbation of atopic symptoms. The present study evaluated whether hyporeactivity of the HPA axis is a feature related to the disposition of atopy rather than a consequence of an ongoing chronic allergic inflammatory process.

Blunted cortisol responses to psychosocial stress in asthmatic children: a general feature of atopic disease?

Objective: Atopy is defined by the individual predisposition to develop a group of inflammatory disorders in response to certain food or environmental substances that are otherwise innocuous for the host. In previous studies we could demonstrate a reduced responsiveness of the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis to psychosocial stress in young and adult patients with atopic dermatitis (AD), a chronic atopic skin disorder. With respect to the important immunoregulatory role of the HPA axis, especially under stress, this observation could be of clinical relevance and may at least partly explain stress-induced exacerbation of AD.