B cells showed no changes. These early results were theorized to occur because of the general stress response to such a distressing life event (as opposed to a grief-specific response). Research on multiple aspects of immune functioning during bereavement continued through the 1980s,25,26 the 1990s)27-31 and the 2000s.9,32,33 Generally, decreased natural killer cell cytotoxicity and poorer lymphocytic response to pathogens was found for bereaved individuals compared with nonbereaved individuals, and found particularly in early Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical bereavement as compared with later bereavement.

Of course, negative findings are less likely to be published, but overall, these findings are quite consistent. In addition, particular subpopulations have been studied because of their compromised immune status. A number of studies have investigated HIV-positive individuals,

and their experience of the death of a partner.28,29,34 In Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical addition, bereaved older adults have been investigated, and they follow a similar pattern with the additional finding of reduced antibody titers to vaccination.32 However, bereaved Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical older adults have not demonstrated greater proinflammatory cytokines.35 Through this expansion of immunological research, the theoretical perspective primarily posited that bereavement was an example of a www.selleckchem.com/products/Cisplatin.html nonspecific stressor (compared with other stressors such as space shuttle touchdown, significant illness of a spouse, insomnia, and other stressors summed from life event checklists). Additional moderators and mediators have been considered in different

studies (eg, depressive disorder, active coping, finding meaning in the loss). All of these studies hypothesize that bereavement is a form of life stress, which although very severe, operates through known stress-response systems. To state this Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical differently, the investigators presume that the distress leads to increases in the figlit-or-flight response, and this leads to reduced cellular immune functioning. Regarding this general stress theory, some studies that investigated Cortisol and immune parameters simultaneously and have not found changes in Cortisol that could be linked Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical to the immune decrements,24,30,36 while others have found an association.9,28,33 One theory is that bereavement AV-951 stress leads to depression, and only depressed bereaved persons show immune decrements. especially Several studies26,31 found no immune functioning or immune population differences between bereaved and nonbereaved, but did find that widows who were depressed had lower natural killer cell activity and lower responsivity to mitogen stimulation than widows who were not depressed. Nonetheless, none of the authors suggest that there is an immune response that is specific to bereavement stress, but rather that bereavement is one example of the general stress response. None of these studies have used a diagnosis of CG to shed light on who has immune impairment and UFA dysregulation in response to a death event.