Brain, behavior, and immunity
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Brain Behav. Immun. · Mar 2019
Stress resilience: Narrative identity may buffer the longitudinal effects of chronic caregiving stress on mental health and telomere shortening.
Chronic caregiving stress may accelerate biological aging; however, the ability to integrate the meaning of caregiving through self-awareness, adaptation, and growth can buffer the negative effects of stress. Narrative researchers have shown that people who coherently integrate difficult experiences into their life story tend to have better mental health, but no prior study has examined the prospective association between narrative identity and biological indicators, such as telomere length. We tested whether narrative identity might be prospectively associated with resilience to long-term parenting stress, depressive symptoms, and protection from telomere shortening, especially among caregivers. ⋯ The data suggest that narratives reflecting coherent integration, but not necessarily affect, prospectively relate to psychological and biological stress resilience. Maternal caregivers' ability to tell an integrated story of their parenting experiences forecasts lower parenting stress and telomere shortening over time. This study suggests the possibility that helping individuals better integrate the meaning of stressful experiences, but not necessarily to affectively redeem them, may constitute a potential novel target for intervention among chronically stressed populations such as caregivers.
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Brain Behav. Immun. · Feb 2019
Dietary n-3 long chain PUFA supplementation promotes a pro-resolving oxylipin profile in the brain.
The brain is highly enriched in long chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (LC-PUFAs) that display immunomodulatory properties in the brain. At the periphery, the modulation of inflammation by LC-PUFAs occurs through lipid mediators called oxylipins which have anti-inflammatory and pro-resolving activities when derived from n-3 LC-PUFAs and pro-inflammatory activities when derived from n-6 LC-PUFAs. However, whether a diet rich in LC-PUFAs modulates oxylipins and neuroinflammation in the brain has been poorly investigated. ⋯ In addition, LPS-induced pro-inflammatory cytokine increase was reduced by dietary n-3 LC-PUFA supplementation. These results indicate that brain n-3 LC-PUFAs increase by dietary means and promote the synthesis of anti-inflammatory derived bioactive oxylipins. As neuroinflammation plays a key role in all brain injuries and many neurodegenerative disorders, the present data suggest that dietary habits may be an important regulator of brain cytokine production in these contexts.
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Brain Behav. Immun. · Jan 2019
Alteration of gut microbiota-associated epitopes in children with autism spectrum disorders.
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) affects 1% of children and has no cure. Gastrointestinal (GI) problems are common in children with ASD, and although gut microbiota is known to play an important role in ASD through the gut-brain axis, the specific mechanism is unknown. Recent evidence suggests that gut microbiota may participate in the pathogenesis of ASD through immune- and inflammation-mediated pathways. Here, we identified potentially immunogenic epitopes derived from gut microbiota in stool samples from ASD children with and without GI problems and typically developing (TD) children. ⋯ Our findings demonstrate the abnormal of MEs composition in the gut of children with ASD, moreover, the abnormality in MEs composition was associated with abnormal gut IgA levels and altered gut microbiota composition, this abnormality also suggests that there may be abnormalities in intestinal immunity in children with ASD; In all, thirty-four MEs identified were potential biomarker of ASD, and alterations in MEs may contribute to abnormalities in gut immunity and/or homeostasis in ASD children. Further study of the MEs identified here may advance our understanding of the pathogenesis of ASD.
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Brain Behav. Immun. · Jan 2019
Multicenter StudyBrain glial activation in fibromyalgia - A multi-site positron emission tomography investigation.
Fibromyalgia (FM) is a poorly understood chronic condition characterized by widespread musculoskeletal pain, fatigue, and cognitive difficulties. While mounting evidence suggests a role for neuroinflammation, no study has directly provided evidence of brain glial activation in FM. In this study, we conducted a Positron Emission Tomography (PET) study using [11C]PBR28, which binds to the translocator protein (TSPO), a protein upregulated in activated microglia and astrocytes. ⋯ Given that the elevations in [11C]PBR28 signal were not also accompanied by increased [11C]-L-deprenyl-D2 signal, our data suggests that microglia, but not astrocytes, may be driving the TSPO elevation in these regions. Although [11C]-L-deprenyl-D2 signal was not found to be increased in FM patients, larger studies are needed to further assess the role of possible astrocytic contributions in FM. Overall, our data support glial modulation as a potential therapeutic strategy for FM.