sympathetic nervous system

Acute stress makes immune cells migrate immediately to the bone marrow, which prepares the body for injury at the expense of increasing infectious disease susceptibility.

Abnormal sympathetic neuron growth leads to simultaneous activation of clusters of sensory neurons, causing the difficult-to-treat sensation.

Affectionate touches tap into the nervous system’s rest and digest mode, reducing the release of stress hormones, bolstering the immune system, and stimulating brainwaves linked with relaxation.

A brain-activated, bone-derived hormone called osteocalcin regulates the acute stress response in rodents and possibly humans.

A mouse study reveals how chronic stress remodels lymphatic vasculature to facilitate the spread of tumor cells.

Researchers pinpoint the neurons within white fat tissue that mediate brain-bound leptin signaling and eventual fat breakdown.

Social adversity shapes humans’ immune systems—and probably their susceptibility to disease—by altering the expression of large groups of genes.