title: Massage-like stroking boosts the immune system in mice.
abstract: Recent clinical evidence suggests that the therapeutic effect of massage involves the immune system and that this can be exploited as an adjunct therapy together with standard drug-based approaches. In this study, we investigated the mechanisms behind these effects exploring the immunomodulatory function of stroking as a surrogate of massage-like therapy in mice. C57/BL6 mice were stroked daily for 8 days either with a soft brush or directly with a gloved hand and then analysed for differences in their immune repertoire compared to control non-stroked mice. Our results show that hand- but not brush-stroked mice demonstrated a significant increase in thymic and splenic T cell number (p < 0.05; p < 0.01). These effects were not associated with significant changes in CD4/CD8 lineage commitment or activation profile. The boosting effects on T cell repertoire of massage-like therapy were associated with a decreased noradrenergic innervation of lymphoid organs and counteracted the immunosuppressive effect of hydrocortisone in vivo. Together our results in mice support the hypothesis that massage-like therapies might be of therapeutic value in the treatment of immunodeficiencies and related disorders and suggest a reduction of the inhibitory noradrenergic tone in lymphoid organs as one of the possible explanations for their immunomodulatory function.
authors.affiliation: William Harvey Research Institute, Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK.
authors.forename: Benjamin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Major
authors.affiliation: William Harvey Research Institute, Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK.
authors.forename: Lorenza
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Rattazzi
authors.affiliation: William Harvey Research Institute, Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK.
authors.forename: Samuel
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Brod
authors.affiliation: Immunology Research Centre "Branislav Janković", Institute of Virology, Vaccines and Sera "Torlak", Belgrade, Serbia.
authors.forename: Ivan
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Pilipović
authors.affiliation: 1] Immunology Research Centre "Branislav Janković", Institute of Virology, Vaccines and Sera "Torlak", Belgrade, Serbia [2] University of Belgrade-Faculty of Pharmacy, Department of Physiology, Serbia should be replaced by Department of Physiology, Belgrade, Serbia.
authors.forename: Gordana
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Leposavić
authors.affiliation: William Harvey Research Institute, Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK.
authors.forename: Fulvio
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: D'Acquisto
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001007:Anxiety; D006854:Hydrocortisone / Q000502:physiology; D007111:Immunity, Cellular; D056747:Immunomodulation; D008213:Lymphocyte Activation; D008297:Male; D008405:Massage; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D013154:Spleen / Q000502:physiology; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000502:physiology*; D013950:Thymus Gland / Q000166:cytology / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: D006854:Hydrocortisone