• Journal of Pharmacopuncture
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.165-172
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• 2021

The COVID-19, the most infectious pandemic disease arising due to SARS-CoV-2 (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2) has caused huge issues globally. In this review, we discuss the impact of COVID-19 on the immune system of the human body and the protective mechanisms of the host immune system opposing viral infections. Here, we summarize the effect of the pandemic of the novel coronavirus disease on the immune system such as sleep and Behavioral Immune System (BIS) together with consideration of researcher's observation points of view. We draw particular attention to recent up-to-date reports concerning COVID-19 drugs as well as information about the landscape document for COVID-19 vaccines released by WHO (World Health Organization), and some adverse events of COVID-19 vaccination. Additionally, can take part in the preventive appraise in opposition within this pandemic severe COVID-19 infections disease may affect some outcome in physical exercise, physical movement, healthy diets, and good nutrition are significant for supporting the immune systems and summarize AYUSH (Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha, and Homeopathy) Indian medicinal systems guidelines for immunity boosting procedures during COVID-19 pandemic.

• Korean Journal of Biological Psychiatry
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.147-151
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• 2008

This review briefly summarizes the relevant knowledge of psychoneuroimmunological basis for neuroimmunology, with particular emphasis on bidirectional neural-immune interactions. The immune system and the nervous system maintain extensive communication, including hardwiring of sympathetic and parasympathetic nerves to lymphoid organs. Immune system is modulated by various neurotransmitters such as acetylcholine, norepinephrine, substance P and histamine. Neuroendocrine hormones such as corticotrophin-releasing hormone(CRH) or substance P regulate cytokine balance. The immune system modulates brain activity including sleep and body temperature. Recent studies have revealed that psychological factors which influence immunity and immune-related disease may modulate brain-to -immune interaction. But, we still await the scientific research and evidences to prove whether or how behavioral or treatment intervention of stress can influence the development, progress or prevention of a specific disease.

• Journal of Smart Tourism
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.5-13
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• 2023

Because of increasing anxiety about infectious diseases and the demand for contactless service caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, it has become crucial for the tourism and hospitality sector to understand customers' psychological mechanism of contactless service during and post COVID-19. Thus, this paper proposes a conceptual model by integrating trust in the framework of the behavioral immune system. Interestingly, our study found that anxiety about infectious diseases during the COVID-19 pandemic has not only increased hotel customers' desire for contactless service and changed their behavioral intentions, but it has also impacted customers' trust in hotel service robots. Therefore, irrespective of how the hotel service environment changes, trust in technology has become the most fundamental factor for hotel customers' attitudes toward adopting technology. Based on the results, this paper provides salient theoretical and practical implications.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.33 no.5
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• pp.429-435
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• 2023

Epidemiological studies suggest that maternal infection, maternal stress, and environmental risk factors during pregnancy increase the risk of brain development abnormalities associated with cognitive impairment in the offspring and increase susceptibility to schizophrenia and autism spectrum disorder. Several animal models have demonstrated that maternal immune activation (MIA) is sufficient to induce abnormal brain development and behavioral defects in the fetus. When polyinosine:polycytodylic acid (poly I:C) or lipopolysaccharide (LPS), which is commonly used in maternal immune activation animal models, was introduced into a pregnant dam, an increase in pro-inflammatory cytokines and microglial activity was observed in the offspring's brain. Microglia are brain-resident immune cells that play a mediating role in the central nervous system, and they are responsible for various functions, such as phagocytosis, synapse formation and branching, and angiogenesis. Several studies have reported that microglia are activated in MIA offspring and influence offspring behavior through interactions with various cytokines. In addition, it has been reported that they play an important role in brain circuits through interactions with neurons and astrocytes. However, there is controversy concerning whether microglia are essential to brain development or lead to behavioral defects, and the exact mechanism remains unknown. Therefore, for the potential diagnosis and treatment of brain developmental disorders, a functional study of microglia should be conducted using MIA animal models.

• Korean Journal of Biological Psychiatry
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.9-14
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• 2022

Objectives Sleep is fundamental to maintaining homeostatic control and has behavioral and psychological effects on humans. To better understand the function and pathophysiology of sleep, specific gene expressions in reference to sleep deprivation have been studied. In this study, we investigated the gene expression of peripheral blood mononuclear cells after sleep deprivation to better understand the functional consequence of sleep. Methods In eight healthy men, 24 h sleep deprivation was induced. Blood was sampled at 14:00, before and after sleep deprivation. mRNA was isolated and analyzed via microarrays. cDNAs before and after sleep deprivation were coupled to Cy3 or Cy5, respectively, and normalized cDNAs were selected with a ratio greater than two as a significant gene. Results are expressed as mean. Results Among 41174 transcripts, 38852 genes were selected as reliable, and only a small minority (< 1%) of the genes were up-or down-regulated. Total six and eleven genes were selected as significant upregulated and downregulated genes, respectively. Protein tyrosine phosphatase receptor type O was most upregulated (6.9-fold), and low-density lipoprotein receptor-related protein 5-like protein showed the most substantial inhibition (0.06-fold). Conclusions This study showed significant associations between sleep deprivation and the immune system. Acute sleep deprivation affects pathways in proinflammatory cytokines as well as metabolic pathways of glutamate and purine, neurotransmitters related to sleep and wake cycle.

• Korean Journal of Biological Psychiatry
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.175-185
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• 2008

Accumulating evidence has suggested the existence of reciprocal communication between immune, endocrine, and neurotransmitter system. Cytokine hypothesis of depression implies that increased pro-inflammatory cytokine such as -1, IL-6, IL-12, TNF-${\alpha}$, and IFN-${\gamma}$ in major depression, acting neuromodulators, play a key role in the mediation of behavioral, neuroendocrine, and neurochemical disturbances in depression. Concerning the relation between cytokines and serotonin metabolism, pro-inflammatory cytokines have profound effects on the metabolism of brain serotonin through the enzyme indoleamine-2,3-dioxygenase(IDO) that metabolizes tryptophan, the precursor of 5-HT to neurodegenerative quinolinate and neuroprotective kynurenate. The neurodegeneration process is reinforced by the neurotoxic effect of the hypercortisolemia during depression. From this perspective, it is possible that efficacy of antidepressants in the treatment of depression may, at least in part, rely on downregulation of pro-inflammatory cytokine synthesis. So, the use of cytokine synthesis inhibitors or cytokine antagonists may be a new treatment approach in depression. However, at present the question whether cytokines play a causal role in the onset of depression or are mere epiphenomena sustaining depressive symptoms remains to be elucidated. Nevertheless, cytokine hypothesis has created new perspectives in the study of psychological and pathophysiological mechanism that are associated with major depression, as well as the prospect for developing a new generation antidepressants.

• Korean Journal of Psychosomatic Medicine
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.43-53
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• 2016

Objectives : Somatic symptoms after the exposure of psychological trauma frequently developed. However, the somatic symptoms are not covered under the diagnostic criteria of posttraumatic stress disorder(PTSD) in detail, although they are often associated with social and occupational functioning and patient-doctor relationships. The aim of this article is to highlight the potential mechanisms, the common manifestations, and the treatment of the somatic symptoms. Methods : This article studied the somatic symptoms searched using academic search engines like PubMed, Scopus, Google Scholar, KoreaMed and KISS from the earliest available date of indexing to March 31, 2016. Results : The mechanism of somatic symptoms after the exposure was described as psychological and physiological aspects. Psychological mechanism consisted of psychodynamic theory, cognitive behavioral theory, and others. Physiological mechanism involved changes in neuroendocrine and immune system, autonomic nervous system and central nervous system. Somatization associated with psychological trauma manifested various health conditions on head and neck, chest, abdominal, musculoskeletal, and dermatological and immune system. Few studies described the standardization of treatment for the somatic symptoms. Conclusions : Clinicians and disaster behavioral health providers should think of the accompanying somatic symptoms during intervention of psychological trauma and PTSD. Further studies are needed on the somatic symptoms seen in psychological trauma and PTSD.

• Korean Journal of Psychosomatic Medicine
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.46-57
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• 2000

Objectives : The purpose of the present study was to examine the effect of subacute treatment with the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors(paroxetine and sertraline) on immobility in the forced swim test(FST) and on FST-induced changes in immune parameters of the mice. Methods : Authors applied a modified method of FST by Porsolt et al. Over 5 BALB/c mice were used for each group of experiments. To explore the changes in immune parameters by FST, authors investigated the production of anti-rat RBC antibody, concanavalin A(ConA)- or lipopolysaccharide(LPS)-stimulated splenocytes proliferation assay and cytokine gene expression. Results : Both paroxetine and sertraline decreased the duration of immobility in a dose-related manner. FST-performed mice showed a significant decrease in mitogenic responses of splenocytes and a slight increasing tendency in anti-rat RBC antibody response. All these responses were attenuated significantly by paroxetine and attenuated nearly nominal significance level by sertraline. The cytokine profiles of ConA-stimulated splenocytes from FST-performed mice showed stronger expression of IL-4 and weaker expression of IL-2 than control mice, and no changes in the expressions of IFN-$\gamma$ and lymphotoxin. IL-6 and IL-10 were not expressed in both group of mice. The pretreatment of paroxetine and sertraline attenuated the altered cytokine expressions in FST-performed mice to some extent. Some alterations of the expressions of IL-6 and IL-10 were observed in the mice which the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors had been pretreated. Conclusion : The subacute treatment of paroxetine and sertraline attenuated the FST-induced behavioral and immune changes, and these serotonin reuptake inhibitors may exert some modulating effects on the immune system by the induction of cytokine gene expression, especially IL-6 and IL-10.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.249-256
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• 2003

Pyroligneous liquid(PL) is produced by carbonizing Oak in 350-40$0^{\circ}C$. It is traditionally used for treating stress-related disorder, hepatic disease, immune disorder, G-I disorder and inflammatory disease. The aim of this study is to investigate anti-stress effects of PL. The experiments were performed with the use of young(9 weeks of age) male rats of SD strain and the male ICR mice (20-25 g). Animals of the normal group were not exposed to any stress and the control group were exposed to stress. The rats of the Ginseng, diazepam(BZ) and PL supplementary group were orally administered once a day 100 g of Ginseng extract-kg body weight, 5 mg of BZ/kg body weight and 1 ml of PL100 g body weight and then exposed to stress. The mice of the Ginseng, BZ and PL supplementary group were given water containing 100 g of Ginseng extract/100 ml potable water, 5 mg of BZ/kg 100 ml of drinking water and 10 ml of PL/100 ml of drinking water and exposed to stress. Animals were given materials for 7 days after stabilizing them, and then were given supplementary materials for 5 days with stress. They were stressed by immobilization for 30 minutes and then the animals were exposed to electroshocks for 5 minutes. We recorded stress-related behavioral changes of experimental animals by stressing them using the Etho-vision system and measured the levels of corticosterone in blood While stress suppressed locomotor activity of animals, PL-supplementation partially blocked the stress effect of locomotion in rats and mice, and also partially blocked stress-induced behavioral changes such as freezing, burrowing, smelling and rearing activity in rats and freezing, grooming, tailing and rearing in mice. The staying time of stressed rats and mice in open area decreased and in closed area it increased relatively in elevated plus maze test. However, these changes also partially were blocked by PL-supplementation. PL-supplementation decreased levels of blood corticosterone increased by stress in rats. These results suggest that PL protects partially the living organism from stress attack in some cases.

• Korean Journal of Culture and Social Issue
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.217-236
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• 2021

The present study examined the mediating role of the subjective norm about social distancing in the relationship between individuals' collectivistic orientation and their social distancing behavior during the early COVID-19 crisis in Korea. A total of 445 South Korean adults residing in Korea participated in a survey during which level 2 to 2.5 prevention policies were being enforced. Results indicated, as expected, that collectivism positively predicted the perceptions of subjective norm that supports social distancing, which in turn predicted positively individuals' participation in social distancing as prescribed by the central government. This result emerged regardless of the individuals' perception of personal vulnerability to COVID-19. We discuss implications of these findings and directions for future research regarding the link between individualism-collectivism and the behavioral immune system, along with the role of social distancing in effectively curbing the spread of corona virus during the pandemic.