Italian Society of PsychoNeuroEndocrinoImmunology (SIPNEI)
History of PNEI
The PsychoNeuroEndocrinoImmunology (Pnei) is an approach
to the functioning of human body as an integrated system where psyche is
constantly related, in a synchronic and bidirectional way, to the other two
systems of physiological regulation, the endocrine and the immune systems.
Pnei originates in the USA during the 80s, as a result of
a series of experimental evidences:
The
discovery of endogenous substances capable to imitate the effects of opiate
substances (opioids such as endorphins, enkephalins and many others) and of
Cannabis Sativa (endocannabinoids such as anandammide) by the connection to
cerebral receptors and by modulating the transmission of information in the
nervous system (pain perception inhibition by the opioids and short-term
memory inhibition by the endocannabinoids).
The
evidence that such neuromodulators receptors are also present outside the
nervous system.
The
proof that specific receptors for the same neuromodulators, hormones and
even some neurotransmitters are simultaneously distributed in the nervous,
immune and endocrine systems, where they are also produced.
The
conclusion that the concerted and synchronic action of these molecules,
which have been renamed as informational, results in a psychosomatic
network which assures the good functioning of living systems.
The first international work about the subject, which is
entitled Psychoneuroimmunology, is published in 1981 (Ader, R., 1981).
Since then, PNEI research has never stopped, and has
developed focusing the centrality of stress, that is the sophisticated
physiological reaction of living organisms to environmental challenges, which
has evolved to provide them with the proper adaptation strategies.
Its peculiarities are now well-known: a close network of
blood vessels (the so-called portal hypothalamic pituitary system) links the
hypothalamus to the pituitary gland, thus checking the neuroendocrine
functioning of the whole organism and setting some specific sequence
interactions (neuroendocrine axes), which guarantees the organism health. There
are as many neuroendocrine axes as hormones produced by the pituitary gland,
which are able to self regulate themselves thanks to a retroactive feedback
(negative feedback).
More specifically, the stress system is structured in two
arms, which activate simultaneously and alert the organism physiologically: the
heartbeat and the arterial blood pressure raise and all the metabolic pathways
are actived, enhancing the production of the necessary energy to face any threat
to survival properly.
The nervous arm (locus coeruleus-sympatehetic-adrenal
medulla circuit) activates quickly, in reply to mostly environmental stress :
the so-called attack-and-retreat answer activates and a group of excitatory
neurotransmitters, named catecholamines (adrenalin, noradrenalin and dopamine),
is released in the blood circulation.
The chemical arm (hypotalamus-pituitary- adrenal cortex
axis) activates more slowly, in reply to mostly emotional stress, activating the
cortex of adrenal glands which are responsible for releasing the cortisol, that
is the most famed hormone connected to stress, in the blood circulation.
The endocrinologist Bruce McEwen has underlined that we
react to stressful events according to very different reactivity criteria, as a
result of the combination between the genetic constitution and the living
experiences which are responsible for the direction either to a good adaptation
(health) or a bad adaptation (desease), depending on the brain understanding
(McEwen, 1998).
The centrality of the relation between organism and
environment has also been confirmed by :
The
results of the neuroscientific research regarding the brain ability to
modify reversibly the relations among especially stimulated cerebral areas
and to activate neurogenesis, which is specifically affected by chronic
stress and is able to inhibit the production of new nervous cells (Shros,
TJ., 2001).
The
recent discoveries about the epigenetic mechanisms which are able to modify
the expression of specific genes under the goading of environmental signals,
either inside or outside the organism. The issues of such researches are
reopening the central dogma of genetics and are emphasizing the need of a
new scientific standard.
PNEI and the integrated medicine
What’s new about the scientific approach of PNEI?
Given the synchronic and bidirectional communication among
the nervous, endocrine and immune systems, PNEI elects a holistic approach to
the individual. Either healthy or diseased, PNEI does not consider the
individual as a composition of disconnected pieces, but as a network dynamically
balanced both inside and in relation to the outside world, thus supporting the
knowledge gained by the systemic biology (Kitano, H., 2002).
Therefore, a doctor who chooses the PNEI approach, in case
of a patient suffering from a disorder, assumes that his physiological network
is temporarily unbalanced. Aware of the balancing factors, he will treat the
patient knowing that not only drugs but also the other modulators of
psychosomatic network goes into action: nutrition, physical activity,
psychological techniques, stress control techniques and many other remedies and
techniques coming from the so-called complementary medicine, whose efficacy an
increasing number of laboratories, mostly American, is working to provide a
scientifically significant demonstration.
Hence the commitment of an integrated medicine, which has
been recently recognized and enhanced in the USA by the foundation of a Society
assembling some of the most prestigious medical schools (Harvard, Columbia,
Stanford, California and others).
The integrated medicine sets the following targets :
To
reach an advanced scientific synthesis, by integrating the valuable part of
the modern scientific medicine with that of the complementary medicine, from
a preventive, diagnostic and therapeutic point of view.
To give
centrality to the doctor-patient relationship.
To
train experts in integrated medicine who, starting from a firm philosophical
view over the various existing medical models as well as the traditional
approach, can learn how to estimate the fundamental impact of lifestyles,
nutrition and stress levels on health.
Thanks to the systemic approach of PNEI, the preventive
and therapeutic strategies can become more efficient: as a matter of fact, the
influence of the gender diversity and of the physical and social environment on
the health-disease balance is taken into account and, at the same time, the
relevance of behaviour on biology is substantiated also at a prenatal level
(Palmisano, A., 2009).
The origin of the Italian Society of
PsychoNeuroEndocrinoImmunology (SIPNEI)
With the first edition of Psychoneuroimmunology, in 1995,
followed by the supplements contained in PsychoNeuroEndocrinoImmunology, in
2005, Francesco Bottaccioli established himself as a strong academic and
promulgator of PNEI.
The two editions (2002 and 2008) of The immune system :
the balance of life and the book Immunity, food and brain (2009) go more
thoroughly into the matter of the intricate functioning of the immune system,
which is particularly useful nowadays where autoimmune diseases are increasing
significantly.
In 2000, the Italian Society of
PsychoNeuroEndocrinoImmunology (SIPNEI) is formed, and Francesco Bottaccioli is
appointed as President.
The first convention held by SIPNEI is in Rome (June,
2002) and is entitled The holistic vision of human body. New horizons for
biology and medicine. In that occasion, it is expressed the intention to
organize scientific workshops about topical subjects and to collect teamworks
and supports in order to establish local sections for SIPNEI.
Since then, SIPNEI organizes training courses, both basic
and advanced, regarding pnei and the integrated medicine, addressed to doctors,
psychologists and health professionals, but also open to anybody interested,
according to the interdisciplinary approach of pnei.
Giuseppe Genovesi, endocrinologist and professor at the
medical school of the University La Sapienza in Rome, took over as SIPNEI
President in 2005.
The current SIPNEI President, appointed in February 2010,
is David Lazzari, psychologist and psychotherapist, director of the Pshycology
Unit at Santa Maria hospital in Terni and professor of Medical Psychology at
the Psychology School of the University of Perugia.
At the present time, the SIPNEI national executive is
formed by as follows :
President: David Lazzari; Honorary President: Francesco
Bottaccioli (Science Phylosopher. Director of SIMAISS and professor of PNEI for
many High Education schools and Master); Vice-President: Marina Risi
(gynaecologist and expert on integrated medicine); Secretary: Laura Buongiorno
(psychologist and psychotherapist).
Councillors : Alberto Bevilacqua (clinical graphologist,
Ancona); Danila Borzacchini (psychologist and psychotherapist, Child Psychiatry,
Terni); Raffaella Cardone (psychologist and psychotherapist, Ravenna); Paola
Conti (occupational sociologist, Rome); Maria Corgna (endocrinologist, Bologna
University); Claudio Dell’Anna (neurologist, American Hospital, Rome); Monica
Mambelli (psychologist and psychotherapist, Forlì); Antonella Palmisano
(biologist and psychologist, scientific researcher for CNR, Salerno).
The first Sipnei National Conference, entitled Genes and
behaviours. Life science and art, took place in Rome from 24 to 26 october 2008.
Thanks to its great success, the number of registrations in the society has
increased exponentially.
The Second National Conference is planned to be held in
October 2011.
At the present time SIPNEI, whose head office is in Rome,
has become an important scientific reality in Italy, and also runs a bimonthly
magazine entitled PNEI, directed by Francesco Bottaccioli.
SIPNEI regional divisions are 11.
Bibliography
Ader, R., Psychoneuroimmunology, Edition IV, Vol. 1 and 2, Academic Press, Amsterdam, 2007. First Edition 1981
Bottaccioli, F, Il sistema immunitario: la bilancia della vita,
II edizione (The immune system : the balance of life, II edition),
tecniche nuove, Milano 2008
Bottaccioli, F, (a cura di ) Geni e comportamenti – Scienza e arte della vita (Genes and behaviours. Life science and art), red, Milano, 2009
Bottaccioli, F., Carosella, A., Immunità, cibo e cervello (Immunity, food and brain), tecniche nuove, Como, 2009
Kitano, H., Systems biology: a brief overview,
Science, 2002, 296, p. 1662-1664
Lazzari, D. Mente e salute (Mind and Health), Angeli , Milano 2007
Lazzari, D. La bilancia dello stress (The balance of stress), Liguori, Napoli 2009
McEwen, B., Protective and damaging effects of stress mediators,
New England of Medicine, 1998, 338, p.171-179
Palmisano, A., Lo stress prima di nascere. Gli effetti nella vita adulta e i meccanismi epigenetici in grado di invertirli (Prenatal stress. The effects on the adult life and the epigenetic mechanisms which are able to invert them), in Bottaccioli, F., (a cura di )
Geni e comportamenti – Scienza e arte della vita, red, Milano, 2009, p. 61-70
Shors, T.J., et al., Neurogenesis in the adult is involved in the formation of trace memories,
Nature, 2001, 410, p. 372-376
