Citation

Meagher MW, Johnson RR, Vichaya EG, Young EE, Lunt S, Welsh CJ. Trauma Violence Abuse 2007; 8(3): 314-330.

Affiliation

Texas A&M University, Department of Psychology, USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2007, SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.1177/1524838007303506

PMID

17596348

Abstract

A growing body of evidence suggests that social conflict is associated with inflammatory disease onset and exacerbations in multiple sclerosis (MS) patients and in animal models of MS. This review illustrates how animal research can be used to elucidate the biobehavioral mechanisms underlying the adverse health effects of social conflict. The authors review studies indicating that social conflict exacerbates a virally initiated animal model of MS. This research suggests that the deleterious effects of social conflict may be partially mediated by stress-induced increases in pro-inflammatory cytokine levels in the central nervous system. In addition, they provide evidence that the adverse health effects of social conflict can be prevented by blocking the stress-induced increases in cytokine activity. This suggests that interventions designed to prevent or reverse the stress-induced increases in cytokine activity may be able to prevent or reverse some of the negative health effects of social conflict in humans.

Language: en