Neuroimmune system

The neuroimmune system is a system of structures and processes involving the biochemical and electrophysiological interactions between the nervous system and immune system which protect neurons from pathogens. It serves to protect neurons against disease by maintaining selectively permeable barriers (e.g., the blood–brain barrier and blood–cerebrospinal fluid barrier), mediating neuroinflammation and wound healing in damaged neurons, and mobilizing host defenses against pathogens. The neuroimmune system and peripheral immune system are structurally distinct. Unlike the peripheral system, the neuroimmune system is composed primarily of glial cells; among all the hematopoietic cells of the immune system, only mast cells are normally present in the neuroimmune system. However, during a neuroimmune response, certain peripheral immune cells are able to cross various blood or fluid–brain barriers in order to respond to pathogens that have entered the brain. For example, there is evidence that following injury macrophages and T cells of the immune system migrate into the spinal cord. Production of immune cells of the complement system have also been documented as being created directly in the central nervous system. The key cellular components of the neuroimmune system are glial cells, including astrocytes, microglia, and oligodendrocytes. Unlike other hematopoietic cells of the peripheral immune system, mast cells naturally occur in the brain where they mediate interactions between gut microbes, the immune system, and the central nervous system as part of the microbiota–gut–brain axis. G protein-coupled receptors that are present in both CNS and immune cell types and which are responsible for a neuroimmune signaling process include: Chemokine receptors: CXCR4 Cannabinoid receptors: CB1, CB2, GPR55 Trace amine-associated receptors: TAAR1 μ-Opioid receptors – all subtypes The neuro-immune system, and study of, comprises an understanding of the immune and neurological systems and the cross-regulatory impacts of their functions.