title: Relationships between cardiovascular and immunological changes in an experimental stress model.
abstract: To investigate the relationships between cardiovascular variables (SBP, DBP, and HR) and circulating natural killer (NK) cell numbers, 70 male volunteers were subjected to a rest condition (N = 30) or a stressful laboratory task (N = 40). At baseline, no significant relationships could be demonstrated between the number of NK cells and the cardiovascular variables. Analysis of covariance showed that the stressor induced increases in the number of NK cells, SBP, DBP, and HR. Changes in Nk cell numbers were highly correlated to changes in cardiovascular variables in both the task and the no-task group. These results indicate that there is no relationship between the number of circulating NK cells and cardiovascular levels per se, but that changes in these variables, either stress-induced or under rest conditions, are regulated by a common mechanism.
authors.affiliation: Department of Immunology, University Hospital, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: R J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Benschop
authors.forename: G L
authors.initials: GL
authors.lastname: Godaert
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Geenen
authors.forename: J F
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Brosschot
authors.forename: M B
authors.initials: MB
authors.lastname: De Smet
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Olff
authors.forename: C J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Heijnen
authors.forename: R E
authors.initials: RE
authors.lastname: Ballieux
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001143:Arousal / Q000502:physiology*; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology; D001794:Blood Pressure / Q000502:physiology*; D006339:Heart Rate / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D007108:Immune Tolerance / Q000276:immunology; D007694:Killer Cells, Natural / Q000276:immunology*; D018655:Lymphocyte Count; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011340:Problem Solving / Q000502:physiology; D011598:Psychoneuroimmunology; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000276:immunology*