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NEUROIMMUNOLOGY

Intervening in the spleen

Nature Reviews Neuroscience volume 23, page 187 (2022)Cite this article

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The splenic nerve innervates the spleen and contains axons of neurons in the suprarenal and coeliac ganglia (SrG–CG). The neurotransmitters released by the splenic nerve, and their effects on the immune system, remain unclear. Yu et al. now show that, in rodents, neuropeptide Y (NPY) released from SrG-CG neurons of the splenic nerve acts on splenic lymphocytes to modulate immune balance, and that NPY signalling could play a part in human autoimmune diseases.

Co-immunostaining demonstrated that NPY co-localizes with the presynaptic protein synaptophysin in the spleen, suggesting NPY can be released there from vesicles. Rats in which Npy expression in SrG–CG neurons was knocked down using RNA interference (Npy-KD rats) showed a reduction in the number of splenic T cells, and an increase in the number of splenic B cells. Compared with control rat splenocytes, splenocytes from Npy-KD rats showed an upregulation of genes implicated in immune cell activation, and downregulation of genes involved in pathways that reduce immune cell activation. Thus, NPY generally acts to inhibit the activity of splenic immune cells.

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  1. Nature Reviews Neuroscience http://www.nature.com/nrn/

    Natasha Bray

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  1. Natasha Bray
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Correspondence to Natasha Bray.

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Bray, N. Intervening in the spleen. Nat Rev Neurosci 23, 187 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41583-022-00573-w

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