Brain, behavior, and immunity
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Brain Behav. Immun. · Nov 2014
Bacillus Calmette-Guérin vaccine induces a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI)-resistant depression like phenotype in mice.
Preclinical studies have shown that administration of Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccine induces depression-like behaviors in mice; however, the effect of antidepressant drug treatment has not been reported earlier. In the present study, we induced depression-like behavior by administering BCG vaccine to BALB/c mice. BCG treatment produced robust serum sickness as shown by a decrease in body weight, reduced spontaneous locomotor activity and reduced voluntary wheel running activity. ⋯ In contrast the tricyclic antidepressant imipramine, the dual serotonin/norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor (SNRI) duloxetine, and the dual dopamine/norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor (DNRI) nomifensine retained antidepressant efficacy in these mice. The lack of efficacy with acute treatment with SSRIs could not be explained either by differences in drug exposure or serotonin transporter (SERT) occupancy. Our results demonstrate that BCG-vaccine induced depression like behavior is selectively resistant to SSRIs and could potentially be employed to evaluate novel therapeutic agents being developed to treat SSRI-resistance in humans.
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Brain Behav. Immun. · Nov 2014
Minocycline modulates neuropathic pain behaviour and cortical M1-M2 microglial gene expression in a rat model of depression.
There is a paucity of data on the role of microglia and neuroinflammatory processes in the association between chronic pain and depression. The current study examined the effect of the microglial inhibitor minocycline on depressive-like behaviour, spinal nerve ligation (SNL)-induced mechanical and cold allodynia and associated changes in the expression of genes encoding microglial markers (M1 vs. M2 polarisation) and inflammatory mediators in the prefrontal cortex in the olfactory bulbectomised (OB) rat model of depression. ⋯ Chronic administration of minocycline reduced the expression of CD11b, a marker of microglial activation, and the M1 pro-inflammatory cytokine IL-1β, in the prefrontal cortex of sham-SNL animals. In comparison, the expression of the M2 microglia marker (MRC2) and anti-inflammatory cytokine IL-10 was increased, as were IL-1β, IL-6 and SOCS3, in the prefrontal cortex of OB-SNL animals following chronic minocycline. Thus, chronic minocycline attenuates neuropathic pain behaviour and modulates microglial activation and the central expression of inflammatory mediators in a manner dependent on the presence or absence of a depressive-like phenotype.
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Brain Behav. Immun. · Nov 2014
High-fat diet consumption disrupts memory and primes elevations in hippocampal IL-1β, an effect that can be prevented with dietary reversal or IL-1 receptor antagonism.
High-fat diet (HFD)-induced obesity is reaching worldwide proportions. In addition to causing obesity, HFDs also induce a variety of health disorders, which includes cognitive decline. Hippocampal function may be particularly vulnerable to the negative consequences of HFD, and it is suspected that 'primed' neuroinflammatory processes may mediate this response. ⋯ Central IL-1 receptor antagonism, with intracisterna magna (ICM) administration of hIL-1RA prior to the foot-shock prevented the diet-induced memory disruption, suggesting a critical role for IL-1β in this phenomenon. Additionally, obese animals whose diet regimen was reversed from HFD back to standard chow recovered memory function and did not demonstrate a foot-shock-induced hippocampal IL-1β increase. Interestingly, dietary reversal neutralized the negative impact of HFD on memory and IL-1β, yet animals maintained physiological evidence of obesity (increased body mass and serum leptin), indicating that dietary components, not body mass, may mediate the negative effects on memory.
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Brain Behav. Immun. · Oct 2014
Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative StudyInflammation-induced hyperalgesia: effects of timing, dosage, and negative affect on somatic pain sensitivity in human experimental endotoxemia.
Inflammation-induced pain amplification and hypersensitivity play a role in the pathophysiology of numerous clinical conditions. Experimental endotoxemia has recently been implemented as model to analyze immune-mediated processes in human pain. In this study, we aimed to analyze dose- and time-dependent effects of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) on clinically-relevant pain models for musculoskeletal and neuropathic pain as well as the interaction among LPS-induced changes in inflammatory markers, pain sensitivity and negative affect. ⋯ Our results revealed widespread increases in musculoskeletal pain sensitivity in response to a moderate dose of LPS (0.8 ng/kg), which correlate both with changes in IL-6 and negative mood. These data extend and refine existing knowledge about immune mechanisms mediating hyperalgesia with implications for the pathophysiology of chronic pain and neuropsychiatric conditions.
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Brain Behav. Immun. · Oct 2014
Decrease in neuroimmune activation by HSV-mediated gene transfer of TNFα soluble receptor alleviates pain in rats with diabetic neuropathy.
The mechanisms of diabetic painful neuropathy are complicated and comprise of peripheral and central pathophysiological phenomena. A number of proinflammatory cytokines are involved in this process. Tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α) is considered to be one of the major contributors of neuropathic pain. ⋯ Diabetic animals exhibited changes in threshold of mechanical and thermal pain perception compared to control rats and also demonstrated increases in TNFα in the DRG, spinal cord dorsal horn, sciatic nerve and in the foot skin, 6 weeks after the onset of diabetes. Therapeutic approaches by HSV mediated expression of p55 TNF soluble receptor significantly attenuated the diabetes-induced hyperalgesia and decreased the expression of TNFα with reduction in the phosphorylation of p38MAPK in the spinal cord dorsal horn and DRG. The overall outcome of this study suggests that neuroinflammatory activation in the peripheral nervous system may be involved in the pathogenesis of painful neuropathy in Type 1 diabetes which can be alleviated by local expression of HSV vector expressing p55 TNF soluble receptor.