The Study On Stress Induced Changes Of Leukocytes And Platelets In Middle-aged And Eldly

By definition,psychological stress is an uncomfortable emotional experience accompanied by predictable biochemical,physiological and behavioral changes.Following the perception of a psychological stressor,there is a cascade of changes in the nervous,cardiovascular,endocrine,and immune systems.Exposure to chronic stress is known to result in long-term or permanent changes in the emotional,physiological,and behavioral responses,which influence susceptibility to disease.High stress levels affect the immunosenescence,cardiovascular,and central nervous systems.Elderly and patients with cardiovascular disease are more likely causeing illness due to stress.As cells of the immune system are activated and migrate to ?battle stations? to contain microbes that may enter the body through wounds and thereby facilitate healing,the immune cells and platelet parameters can be detected by peripheral blood to obtain the immune state of the body.This article investigated the different peripheral leukocytes and platelet activation parameters responses following acute psychological stress between middle-aged and elderly adults to evaluate age-related immunological changes or age and gender related platelet changes induced by acute stress.The results are as follows:(1)The acute psychological stressor induced a significant(p < 0.05)increasing of white blood cells(WBCs),neutrophils,and natural killer(NK)(CD16+CD56+)cells in both middle-aged and elderly cohorts.Only the elderly cohort showed a significant(p <0.05)change in monocytes.The effect of acute psychological stress on the immune system is different between middle aged and elderly individuals,as shown by the redistribution of peripheral blood immune cells.The effect of psychological stress induced immunological changes may be similar to the immunological changes measured in response to infection(2)The acute psychological stressor induced a significant(P < 0.05)increase of MPV,PDW and P-LCR in healthy participants.There were no significant(P < 0.05)differences between middle aged and elderly cohorts,or male and female groups in our investigation.We conclude that as marks of platelet activation,the three indices measured by hematology analyzers: MPV,PDW and P-LCR are sensitively increased after acute lab psychological stress in healthy adults,and in both middle aged and elderly cohorts.