TIME-COURSE OF NATURAL-KILLER-CELL ACTIVITY AND LYMPHOCYTE-PROLIFERATION IN RESPONSE TO 2 ACUTE STRESSORS IN HEALTHY-MEN

To clarify the time course of immune system activity during and after acute stresser exposure, this study collected immune measures from 31 men at 6 times (before, during, and after 2 common laboratory stressor s; mental arithmetic with harassment or a cold presser task). The 6-mi n stresser period was associated with increased self-report of pain an d distress in both stresser groups and with increased systolic and dia stolic blood pressure and heart rate in the mental arithmetic group. I ncreased natural killer cell activity in this group was observed durin g the task (2 and 5 min into the task) and 5 min after the task ended. A significant Group x Time effect was observed for lymphocyte prolife ration to pokeweed mitogen, and a significant Group x Time x Dilution effect was observed for proliferation to concanavalin A. Inspection of the data suggested that this interaction was due to a reduction in pr oliferation in both stresser groups during the task period.