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Central and peripheral neuroimmune responses: hyporesponsiveness during pregnancy
Author(s) -
Spencer Sarah J.,
Mouihate Abdeslam,
Galic Michael A.,
Pittman Quentin J.
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
the journal of physiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.802
H-Index - 240
eISSN - 1469-7793
pISSN - 0022-3751
DOI - 10.1113/jphysiol.2007.144006
Subject(s) - peripheral , pregnancy , neuroscience , immunology , medicine , psychology , biology , genetics
There are periods in the life of a healthy animal (including humans) when the febrile response to an immune challenge is suppressed. One such period is during late pregnancy, particularly around the time of parturition. In the 30 or so years since this ‘febrile hyporesponsiveness’ was first noted, much work has been done to investigate the mechanisms and adaptive significance of this phenomenon. In this review we present some insight into how and why the body deliberately re‐programmes itself to develop smaller fevers in response to an immune challenge and therefore to be potentially less successful at fighting infection.