Journal of Osteopathic Medicine, 2002/04, 5(1):16-23. doi: 10.1016/S1443-8461(02)80030-2, type of study: ,art,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

Full text    (http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1443846102800302)

Keywords:

article [2635]
autopoiesis [1]
homeostasis [17]
immune system [53]

Abstract:

The clonal selection paradigm describes an immune system whose homeostatic functions are at variance with integrated holistic homeostasis. Given the shortcomings inherent in this paradigm, the immune system is understood differently when the organism (the person) is described as autopoietic. In this view, homeostasis is the capacity to maintain organisational stability. The immune system then becomes a self-referential network of recognition interactions (the central immune system) and a peripheral immune system that is concerned with non-homeostatic, clonally driven defence. The characteristics of the immune network include connectivity, specificity, self-recognition, autoimmunity and tolerance; immunological identity and memory become the emergent characteristics of the network. The immune target of osteopathy is the central immune system, an organisationally closed network, so that resultant changes in immune status are more properly described as compensation by the immune network to perturbation by osteopathic treatment.