Behavior of natural and humoral immunity in hypertension

Abstract

The changes that occur in response to stress are divided into “central adaptations” and “peripheral adaptations”. Within the latter there are the changes in the cardiovascular system (increased pulse and blood pressure), which are not sufficient in the adaptive system: the immune system must complete the classic response to stress to make it fully adaptive and a guarantee of survival. The known relationship between stress, high blood pressure and the immune system motivated the present work, which aims to evaluate the behavior of natural and humoral immunity in hypertensive patients under stress. A total of 33 patients were studied, who underwent an assessment of proteins of the complement C3 and C4 (natural immunity) and Igs: M, G and A (humoral immunity) by a turbidimetric quantitative method. At least 16 patients had one altered parameter in natural immunity and seven in humoral immunity. None ingested alcoholic drinks and six of them drank coffee and smoke, of these, three had the natural immunity affected, and, in one case, it was observed impaired parameters of both immunities. In the hypertensive patients under stress that were studied, it was evident the presence of alterations in the natural and humoral immunity. The lifestyle modification for the treatment of hypertension (no drug treatment) is essential to work on risk factors such as stress.

Keywords

• hipertensión
• estrés psicológico
• inmunidad innata
• inmunidad humoral