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Balneotherapy, Immune System, and Stress Response: A Hormetic Strategy?

Balneotherapy is a clinically effective complementary approach in the treatment of low-grade inflammation- and stress-related pathologies. The biological mechanisms by which immersion in mineral-medicinal water and the application of mud alleviate symptoms of several pathologies are still not comple...

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Autores principales: Gálvez, Isabel, Torres-Piles, Silvia, Ortega-Rincón, Eduardo
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2018
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6032246/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29882782
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijms19061687
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author Gálvez, Isabel
Torres-Piles, Silvia
Ortega-Rincón, Eduardo
author_facet Gálvez, Isabel
Torres-Piles, Silvia
Ortega-Rincón, Eduardo
author_sort Gálvez, Isabel
collection PubMed
description Balneotherapy is a clinically effective complementary approach in the treatment of low-grade inflammation- and stress-related pathologies. The biological mechanisms by which immersion in mineral-medicinal water and the application of mud alleviate symptoms of several pathologies are still not completely understood, but it is known that neuroendocrine and immunological responses—including both humoral and cell-mediated immunity—to balneotherapy are involved in these mechanisms of effectiveness; leading to anti-inflammatory, analgesic, antioxidant, chondroprotective, and anabolic effects together with neuroendocrine-immune regulation in different conditions. Hormesis can play a critical role in all these biological effects and mechanisms of effectiveness. The hormetic effects of balneotherapy can be related to non-specific factors such as heat—which induces the heat shock response, and therefore the synthesis and release of heat shock proteins—and also to specific biochemical components such as hydrogen sulfide (H(2)S) in sulfurous water and radon in radioactive water. Results from several investigations suggest that the beneficial effects of balneotherapy and hydrotherapy are consistent with the concept of hormesis, and thus support a role for hormesis in hydrothermal treatments.
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spelling pubmed-60322462018-07-13 Balneotherapy, Immune System, and Stress Response: A Hormetic Strategy? Gálvez, Isabel Torres-Piles, Silvia Ortega-Rincón, Eduardo Int J Mol Sci Review Balneotherapy is a clinically effective complementary approach in the treatment of low-grade inflammation- and stress-related pathologies. The biological mechanisms by which immersion in mineral-medicinal water and the application of mud alleviate symptoms of several pathologies are still not completely understood, but it is known that neuroendocrine and immunological responses—including both humoral and cell-mediated immunity—to balneotherapy are involved in these mechanisms of effectiveness; leading to anti-inflammatory, analgesic, antioxidant, chondroprotective, and anabolic effects together with neuroendocrine-immune regulation in different conditions. Hormesis can play a critical role in all these biological effects and mechanisms of effectiveness. The hormetic effects of balneotherapy can be related to non-specific factors such as heat—which induces the heat shock response, and therefore the synthesis and release of heat shock proteins—and also to specific biochemical components such as hydrogen sulfide (H(2)S) in sulfurous water and radon in radioactive water. Results from several investigations suggest that the beneficial effects of balneotherapy and hydrotherapy are consistent with the concept of hormesis, and thus support a role for hormesis in hydrothermal treatments. MDPI 2018-06-06 /pmc/articles/PMC6032246/ /pubmed/29882782 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijms19061687 Text en © 2018 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Review
Gálvez, Isabel
Torres-Piles, Silvia
Ortega-Rincón, Eduardo
Balneotherapy, Immune System, and Stress Response: A Hormetic Strategy?
title Balneotherapy, Immune System, and Stress Response: A Hormetic Strategy?
title_full Balneotherapy, Immune System, and Stress Response: A Hormetic Strategy?
title_fullStr Balneotherapy, Immune System, and Stress Response: A Hormetic Strategy?
title_full_unstemmed Balneotherapy, Immune System, and Stress Response: A Hormetic Strategy?
title_short Balneotherapy, Immune System, and Stress Response: A Hormetic Strategy?
title_sort balneotherapy, immune system, and stress response: a hormetic strategy?
topic Review
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6032246/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29882782
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijms19061687
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