| First Author | Rosas-Ballina M | Year | 2011 |
| Journal | Science | Volume | 334 |
| Issue | 6052 | Pages | 98-101 |
| PubMed ID | 21921156 | Mgi Jnum | J:177039 |
| Mgi Id | MGI:5293541 | Doi | 10.1126/science.1209985 |
| Citation | Rosas-Ballina M, et al. (2011) Acetylcholine-synthesizing T cells relay neural signals in a vagus nerve circuit. Science 334(6052):98-101 |
| abstractText | Neural circuits regulate cytokine production to prevent potentially damaging inflammation. A prototypical vagus nerve circuit, the inflammatory reflex, inhibits tumor necrosis factor-alpha production in spleen by a mechanism requiring acetylcholine signaling through the alpha7 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor expressed on cytokine-producing macrophages. Nerve fibers in spleen lack the enzymatic machinery necessary for acetylcholine production; therefore, how does this neural circuit terminate in cholinergic signaling? We identified an acetylcholine-producing, memory phenotype T cell population in mice that is integral to the inflammatory reflex. These acetylcholine-producing T cells are required for inhibition of cytokine production by vagus nerve stimulation. Thus, action potentials originating in the vagus nerve regulate T cells, which in turn produce the neurotransmitter, acetylcholine, required to control innate immune responses. |
