Brain, behavior, and immunity
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Brain Behav. Immun. · May 2014
Minocycline rescues decrease in neurogenesis, increase in microglia cytokines and deficits in sensorimotor gating in an animal model of schizophrenia.
Adult neurogenesis in the hippocampus is impaired in schizophrenic patients and in an animal model of schizophrenia. Amongst a plethora of regulators, the immune system has been shown repeatedly to strongly modulate neurogenesis under physiological and pathological conditions. It is well accepted, that schizophrenic patients have an aberrant peripheral immune status, which is also reflected in the animal model. ⋯ Treatment with the antibiotic minocycline (3mg/kg/day) normalized microglial cytokine production in the hippocampus and rescued neurogenesis and behavior. We could also show that enhanced microglial TNF-α and IL-1β production in the hippocampus was accompanied by a decrease in the pro-proliferative TNFR2 receptor expression on neuronal progenitor cells, which could be attenuated by minocycline. These findings strongly support the idea to use anti-inflammatory drugs to target microglia activation as an adjunctive therapy in schizophrenic patients.
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Brain Behav. Immun. · May 2014
Elevated C-reactive protein levels may be a predictor of persistent unfavourable symptoms in patients with mild traumatic brain injury: a preliminary study.
The pathogenesis of persistent unfavourable outcomes following mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) are not fully understood. Low-grade systemic inflammation might contribute to the development of persistent unfavourable outcomes in patients with mTBI. We used plasma high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (CRP) levels as the biomarker of systemic inflammation to investigate whether elevated CRP levels were associated with persistent adverse outcomes in these patients. ⋯ However, elevated CRP levels were not associated with persistent physiological problems (OR, 1.330; 95% CI, 0.905-1.956; p=0.146). Furthermore, three adjusted models did not essentially affect the OR of elevated CRP levels for these persistent unfavourable outcomes. Among patients with mTBI, baseline elevated CRP levels may be an independent predictor of persistent persistent PCS, psychological problems and cognitive impairment.