A History of Immune and Neuroendocrine System Interactions

Abstract

The purpose of this chapter is to provide a twentieth century history of neuroendocrine and immune systems and the interactions of their components. The ideas of immune and neuroendocrine structure–function relationships emerged in the life sciences once the cell had been recognized as the fundamental unit of life, in large part due to the use of improved microscopic and tissue-staining techniques. In addition, throughout the twentieth century, the study of immunity and neuroendocrinology has been guided by the idea of receptor molecules showing specificity for certain biological components. Interestingly, the very notions of neuroendocrine and immune systems, reminiscent of those still used today, were only explicitly formulated in the 1970s. While initial thinking about neuroendocrine–immune interactions in the 1970s–1980s was mostly framed in terms of systems, subsequent physiological and evolutionary research indicated that these interactions can also occur at the organ, tissue, cellular, and molecular levels and that the very labels “immune” and “neuroendocrine” need to be used with caution in present-day and future research.