| Publication Abstract Display | | Type: Published Abstract | | Title: Immune cell chemotaxis in response to a speech task in Alzheimer's caregivers and non-caregiving controls. | | Authors: Redwine LS, Mills PJ, Sada M, Rakei, L, Patterson T, Dimsdale J, Grant I | | Year: 2003 | | Publication: Psychosomatic Medicine | | Volume: 65 Issue: 1 Pages: A18 | | Abstract:Mortality rates increase by 63% in Alzheimer’s disease caregivers (Schulz and Beach, 1999). Greater disease risk may be due to physiological alterations, including altered immune responses. Chemotaxis of immune cells plays a critical role in recruitment and migration of cells to sites of inflammation with implications for infectious disease and atherosclerosis. In humans and animals
acute stress produces increased in vitro chemotaxis (Ortaga et al, 1997;Redwine et al, 2001) and in vivo trafficking of leukocytes in rats (Dhabhar and McEwen, 1999). However, chemotaxis in chronically stressed humans has not been examined in response to acute stress. In the present preliminary study we examined chemotaxis responses of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) of spousal caregivers of Alzhiemer patients
(N=10) (mean age 71) and age and gender matched non-caregivers (N=10) whose blood was sampled at rest and after a standardized speech task in the subjects home. Repeated-measures ANOVA revealed group x time x dose effects of PBMCs to both chemokines FMLP and SDF in response to a speech task. Caregivers had reduced chemotaxis of PBMCs to chemokine, FMLP (F=
5.02, p < 0.04) in response to a speech task at two different doses. For SDF-1, (F=4.6, p< 0.05) caregivers required higher doses of chemokine in order to increase responses to stress whereas at lower doses they had very little response to the stressor. There was also a group x time interaction for chemotaxis to the catecholamine isoproterenol. Although, caregivers had higher basal responses, they had reduced chemotaxis responses to the speech task compared to controls (F=4.5. p=0.051). In conclusion, it appears that PBMCs of caregivers have reduced chemotaxis responses to chemokines and catecholamines in response to an acute stress task. The findings may be relevant to prior observations of increased rates of illness in caregivers. |
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