Abstract
Neuronal stimulation is an emerging field in modern medicine to control organ function and reestablish physiological homeostasis during illness. The nervous system innervates most of the peripheral organs and provides a fine tune to control the immune system. Most of these studies have focused on vagus nerve stimulation and the physiological, cellular and molecular mechanisms regulating the immune system. Here, we review the new results revealing afferent vagal signaling pathways, immunomodulatory brain structures, spinal cord-dependent circuits, neural and non-neural cholinergic/catecholaminergic signals and their respective receptors contributing to neuromodulation of inflammation in rheumatoid arthritis. These new neuromodulatory networks and structures will allow the design of innovative bioelectronic or pharmacological approaches for safer and low-cost treatment of arthritis and related inflammatory disorders.
Acknowledgements
This study was supported by FAPESP project grants (11/20343-4, 12/04237-2 and 13/08216-2). A Kanashiro is supported by Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) (118636/2017-0). L Ulloa is supported by the NIH R01-GM114180, Eastern Scholarship JZ2016010, and NSFC #81774429.
Financial & competing interests disclosure
The authors declare no competing financial interests. The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.