Biologica! Psychiatry Neuropsychobiology Ori gi na i P aper Neuropsychobiology 1999;40:188-195 Neuropeptide V Plasma Levels an d Immunologica l Changes during Academic Stress Luisa Guidi a Augusto Tricerria Marcello Vangeli a Daniela Frasca e Andrea Riccardo Errania Angela Di Giovanni c Leonardo Antico a Edoardo Meninib Vittorio Scia manna b Nicola Magnavita d Gino Doria e Carlo Bartoloni a Istituti di •Medicina Interna e Geriatria, bChimica Biologica, <Psichiatria, d Medicina del Lavoro, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, and •Laboratorio di Immunologia, Ente per le Nuove Tecnologie, l'Energia e l'Ambiente (ENEA), Centro Ricerche, Casaccia, Rome, ltaly Ke yWords Academic stress· Neuropeptide · Psychoneuroimmunology · lmmunology · Cytokines an increase in plasma cortisol levels during stress. The lymphocyte proliferation negatively correlated with the POMS score as well as the percentage of CD16+ cells with NPY plasma levels. NPY levels were not different from Baseline. The emotional and mood states seem to Abstra ct influence immunity. Academic stress is a good model of psychological stress CopyrightCt999S. KargerAG.Basel in humans for studying psychoneuroimmune correla- tions. We looked for correlations between psychological scores, immune tests and plasma levels of cortisol and neuropeptide Y (NPY). A group of medicai students were evaluated at the beginning of the academic year (Base- line) and the day before an examination (Stress). They underwent evaluation by The Profile of Mood States (POMS), The M alaise lnventory, The Self Efficacy Scale and A Global Assessment of Recent Stress (GARS). The lymphocyte subsets, the lymphocyte proliferative re- spense and the cytokine production were also evaluated. We detected modifications of some psychological test scores betw een the Baseline and Stress evaluation, a significant reduction of lymphocyte proliferation, IL-2 production and percentage of the lymphocyte CD19, an d KAR. GER. Fax + 41 61 JIJ(I 12 J4 E· Mail kargcr(o'kargcr.rh \V W W . 6 1999 S. Kargcr AG. Basd OJ02-282X/'JWIJ404 - 0 l XXS l 7 5010 1\n:css ih/conlinl ' al www. l ntroduct ion Psychoncuroimmunology [l) is an arca of rcscarch t ha t links tbc bidirectional interactions between the centrai ncrvous systcm an d thc immunologicalnetwork. Thc me- diators of thcse interactions are composed of neurotrans- mitters, neuropcptides, hormones and cytokines. In this light, 'di ree!' cffects of acute and chronic stress as well as ofaffective disorders on immunologica! functions may be expccted . Tbc adaptive rcsponsc to stress- which ca n be consid- crcd as a state of thrcatcncd 'homcostasis' [2) - leads. among other conscqucnccs, to allcrations in immunocom- Luisa (ìuidi rv1D.I'Ilf) l"tituto di M edicina Interna c Gcriatn;1 l lnivcrsit ;·, CaltoiÌGI dd S:1no ( ·uorr LarJ!tl A . (ienh.:lli X. 1- 0016-1 Homa flc :ll y) Id <. l'llll•