Genetics and sex influence peripheral and central innate immune responses and blood-brain barrier integrity

Behavioral Alterations in Mice Exposed to Manganese via Drinking Water: Effects of Sex and a Lipopolysaccharide Challenge

Manganese (Mn) is an essential and important metal; however, overexposures lead to adverse neurological outcomes. Nonoccupational Mn overexposure occurs primarily through consumption of Mn-contaminated drinking water (DW). Sex differences in terms of nervous and immune systems' responsiveness to excessive Mn in the DW are understudied. Thus, this study investigated behavioral and sex differences in response to Mn DW treatment (0.4 g Mn/L for up to 8 weeks) and a lipopolysaccharide (LPS) challenge of adult C57BL/6 mice with GFP-tagged monocytes/microglia. After 6 weeks, in motor function tests, Mn exposure resulted in decreased activity and gait deficits. In two different mood tests (open field test [OFT]/elevated zero maze), Mn-exposed mice exhibited decreased fear/anxiety-like behavior. Two weeks after behavioral assessment, when mice were challenged with LPS, circulating inflammatory cytokines, and acute phase proteins increased in both sexes. After 8 weeks of Mn exposure, liver and brain Mn levels were increased, but Mn alone did not affect circulating cytokines in either sex. Notably, Mn-exposed/LPS-challenged males had potentiated plasma cytokine output, whereas the reverse was seen in females. Males, but not females, continued to exhibit increased fearlessness (i.e., increased OFT center time), even when challenged with LPS. Overall, our results show that Mn DW exposure increases brain Mn levels and it leads to behavioral alterations in both sexes. However, males might be more susceptible to the effect of Mn on mood, and this effect is recalcitrant to an inflammagen challenge. Mn augmented post-LPS cytokine production only in males, further indicating that important Mn effects are sex-biased.

Beneficial Effects of Ginger Root Extract on Pain Behaviors, Inflammation, and Mitochondrial Function in the Colon and Different Brain Regions of Male and Female Neuropathic Rats: A Gut-Brain Axis Study

BACKGROUND

Neuroinflammation and mitochondrial dysfunction have been implicated in the progression of neuropathic pain (NP) but can be mitigated by supplementation with gingerol-enriched ginger (GEG). However, the exact benefits of GEG for each sex in treating neuroinflammation and mitochondrial homeostasis in different brain regions and the colon remain to be determined.

OBJECTIVE

Evaluate the effects of GEG on emotional/affective pain and spontaneous pain behaviors, neuroinflammation, as well as mitochondria homeostasis in the amygdala, frontal cortex, hippocampus, and colon of male and female rats in the spinal nerve ligation (SNL) NP model.

METHODS

One hundred rats (fifty males and fifty females) were randomly assigned to five groups: sham + vehicle, SNL + vehicle, and SNL with three different GEG doses (200, 400, and 600 mg/kg BW) for 5 weeks. A rat grimace scale and vocalizations were used to assess spontaneous and emotional/affective pain behaviors, respectively. mRNA gene and protein expression levels for tight junction protein, neuroinflammation, mitochondria homeostasis, and oxidative stress were measured in the amygdala, frontal cortex, hippocampus, and colon using qRT-PCR and Western blot (colon).

RESULTS

GEG supplementation mitigated spontaneous pain in both male and female rats with NP while decreasing emotional/affective responses only in male NP rats. GEG supplementation increased intestinal integrity (claudin 3) and suppressed neuroinflammation [glial activation (GFAP, CD11b, IBA1) and inflammation (TNFα, NFκB, IL1β)] in the selected brain regions and colon of male and female NP rats. GEG supplementation improved mitochondrial homeostasis [increased biogenesis (TFAM, PGC1α), increased fission (FIS, DRP1), decreased fusion (MFN2, MFN1) and mitophagy (PINK1), and increased Complex III] in the selected brain regions and colon in both sexes. Some GEG dose-response effects in gene expression were observed in NP rats of both sexes.

CONCLUSIONS

GEG supplementation decreased emotional/affective pain behaviors of males and females via improving gut integrity, suppressing neuroinflammation, and improving mitochondrial homeostasis in the amygdala, frontal cortex, hippocampus, and colon in both male and female SNL rats in an NP model, implicating the gut-brain axis in NP. Sex differences observed in the vocalizations assay may suggest different mechanisms of evoked NP responses in females.

Sex-dependent effects of antimicrobials and lipopolysaccharide on blood-brain-barrier permeability in pubertal male and female CD1 mice

Exposure to stressors during puberty can disrupt normal development and possibly increase susceptibility to neurodegenerative disorders later in life. However, the mechanisms underlying the relationship between pubertal stress exposure and neurodegeneration remain unclear. As such, the current study was designed to examine the effects of pubertal antimicrobial (AMNS) and lipopolysaccharide (LPS) treatments on intestinal and blood-brain-barrier (BBB) permeability in male and female mice. Moreover, we also examined the sex-specific effects of pubertal AMNS and LPS treatments on gross motor activity, heart rate, and core body temperature. At four weeks of age, male and female CD1 mice were implanted with the G2 HR E-Mitter telemetry system. At five weeks of age, mice received 200 μL of broad-spectrum antimicrobial or water, through oral gavage, twice daily for seven days. Mice received an intraperitoneal injection of either saline or LPS at six weeks of age. BBB and intestinal permeability were examined 24 h, 72 h, and one week post-LPS/saline treatment. Telemetric data was collected for 48 h post-LPS/saline treatment. The results showed that pubertal AMNS and LPS treatments increased sickness behaviours and decreased body temperature and heart rate, in a sex-dependent manner. Furthermore, pubertal AMNS and LPS treatments resulted in sex-dependent regional increases in BBB permeability 24 h and 72 h post-LPS/saline treatment, while global increases in BBB permeability were only observed one week post-LPS/saline treatment. These results further our understanding of the combined effects of AMNS and LPS treatments on physiology and on the enduring negative changes observed following pubertal exposure to stressors.

Challenges and Future Perspectives in Modeling Neurodegenerative Diseases Using Organ-on-a-Chip Technology

Neurodegenerative diseases (NDDs) affect more than 50 million people worldwide, posing a significant global health challenge as well as a high socioeconomic burden. With aging constituting one of the main risk factors for some NDDs such as Alzheimer's disease (AD) and Parkinson's disease (PD), this societal toll is expected to rise considering the predicted increase in the aging population as well as the limited progress in the development of effective therapeutics. To address the high failure rates in clinical trials, legislative changes permitting the use of alternatives to traditional pre-clinical in vivo models are implemented. In this regard, microphysiological systems (MPS) such as organ-on-a-chip (OoC) platforms constitute a promising tool, due to their ability to mimic complex and human-specific tissue niches in vitro. This review summarizes the current progress in modeling NDDs using OoC technology and discusses five critical aspects still insufficiently addressed in OoC models to date. Taking these aspects into consideration in the future MPS will advance the modeling of NDDs in vitro and increase their translational value in the clinical setting.

Interactions of Serum Amyloid A Proteins with the Blood-Brain Barrier: Implications for Central Nervous System Disease

Serum amyloid A (SAA) proteins are highly conserved lipoproteins that are notoriously involved in the acute phase response and systemic amyloidosis, but their biological functions are incompletely understood. Recent work has shown that SAA proteins can enter the brain by crossing the intact blood-brain barrier (BBB), and that they can impair BBB functions. Once in the central nervous system (CNS), SAA proteins can have both protective and harmful effects, which have important implications for CNS disease. In this review of the thematic series on SAA, we discuss the existing literature that relates SAA to neuroinflammation and CNS disease, and the possible roles of the BBB in these relations.

Sex differences in physiological response to increased neuronal excitability in a knockin mouse model of pediatric epilepsy

BACKGROUND

Epilepsy is a common neurological disease; however, few if any of the currently marketed antiseizure medications prevent or cure epilepsy. Discovery of pathological processes in the early stages of epileptogenesis has been challenging given the common use of preclinical models that induce seizures in physiologically normal animals. Moreover, despite known sex dimorphism in neurological diseases, females are rarely included in preclinical epilepsy models.

METHODS

We characterized sex differences in mice carrying a pathogenic knockin variant (p.N1768D) in the Scn8a gene that causes spontaneous tonic-clonic seizures (TCs) at ∼3 months of age and found that heterozygous females are more resilient than males in mortality and morbidity. To investigate the cellular mechanisms that underlie female resilience, we utilized blood-brain barrier (BBB) and hippocampal transcriptomic analyses in heterozygous mice before seizure onset (pre-TC) and in mice that experienced ∼20 TCs (post-TC).

RESULTS

In the pre-TC latent phase, both sexes exhibited leaky BBB; however, patterns of gene expression were sexually dimorphic. Females exhibited enhanced oxidative phosphorylation and protein biogenesis, while males activated gliosis and CREB signaling. After seizure onset (chronic phase), females exhibited a metabolic switch to lipid metabolism, while males exhibited increased gliosis and BBB dysfunction and a strong activation of neuroinflammatory pathways.

CONCLUSION

The results underscore the central role of oxidative stress and BBB permeability in the early stages of epileptogenesis, as well as sex dimorphism in response to increasing neuronal hyperexcitability. Our results also highlight the need to include both sexes in preclinical studies to effectively translate results of drug efficacy studies.

Microglial-specific knockdown of iron import gene, Slc11a2, blunts LPS-induced neuroinflammatory responses in a sex-specific manner

Neuroinflammation and microglial iron load are significant hallmarks found in several neurodegenerative diseases. In in vitro systems, microglia preferentially upregulate the iron importer, divalent metal transporter 1 (DMT1, gene name Slc11a2) in response to inflammatory stimuli, and it has been shown that iron can augment cellular inflammation, suggesting a feed-forward loop between mechanisms involved in iron import and inflammatory signaling. However, it is not understood how microglial iron import mechanisms contribute to inflammation in vivo, or whether altering a microglial iron-related gene affects the inflammatory response. These studies aimed to determine the effect of knocking down microglial iron import gene Slc11a2 on the inflammatory response in vivo. We generated a novel model of tamoxifen-inducible, microglial-specific Slc11a2 knockdown using Cx3cr1Cre-ERT2 mice. Transgenic male and female mice were administered intraperitoneal saline or lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and assessed for sickness behavior post-injection. Plasma cytokines and microglial bulk RNA sequencing (RNASeq) analyses were performed at 4 h post-LPS, and microglia were collected for gene expression analysis after 24 h. A subset of mice was assessed in a behavioral test battery following LPS-induced sickness recovery. Control male, but not female, mice significantly upregulated microglial Slc11a2 at 4 and 24 h following LPS. In Slc11a2 knockdown mice, we observed an improvement in the acute behavioral sickness response post-LPS in male, but not female, animals. Microglia from male, but not female, knockdown animals exhibited a significant decrease in LPS-provoked pro-inflammatory cytokine expression after 24 h. RNASeq data from male knockdown microglia 4 h post-LPS revealed a robust downregulation in inflammatory genes including Il6, Tnfα, and Il1β, and an increase in anti-inflammatory and homeostatic markers (e.g., Tgfbr1, Cx3cr1, and Trem2). This corresponded with a profound decrease in plasma pro-inflammatory cytokines 4 h post-LPS. At 4 h, male knockdown microglia also upregulated expression of markers of iron export, iron recycling, and iron homeostasis and decreased iron storage and import genes, along with pro-oxidant markers such as Cybb, Nos2, and Hif1α. Overall, this work elucidates how manipulating a specific gene involved in iron import in microglia alters acute inflammatory signaling and overall cell activation state in male mice. These data highlight a sex-specific link between a microglial iron import gene and the pro-inflammatory response to LPS in vivo, providing further insight into the mechanisms driving neuroinflammatory disease.

Inter-alpha inhibitor proteins attenuate lipopolysaccharide-induced blood-brain barrier disruption in neonatal mice

There is a paucity of information regarding efficacious pharmacological neuroprotective strategies to attenuate or reduce brain injury in neonates. Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) disrupts blood-brain barrier (BBB) function in adult rodents and increases inflammation in adults and neonates. Human blood-derived Inter-alpha Inhibitor Proteins (IAIPs) are neuroprotective, improve neonatal survival after LPS, and attenuate LPS-induced disruption of the BBB in adult male mice. We hypothesized that LPS also disrupts the function of the BBB in neonatal mice and that IAIPs attenuate the LPS-induced BBB disruption in male and female neonatal mice. IAIPs were administered to neonatal mice after LPS and BBB permeability quantified with intravenous 14C-sucrose and 99mTc-albumin. Although repeated high doses (3 mg/kg) of LPS in neonates resulted in high mortality rates and a robust increase in BBB permeability, repeated lower doses (1 mg/kg) of LPS resulted in lower mortality rates and disruption of the BBB in both male and female neonates. IAIP treatment attenuated disruption of the BBB similarly to sucrose and albumin after exposure to low-dose LPS in neonatal mice. Exposure to low-dose LPS elevated IAIP concentrations in blood, but it did not appear to increase the systemic levels of Pre-alpha inhibitor (PaI), one of the family members of the IAIPs that contains heavy chain 3. We conclude that IAIPs attenuate LPS-related disruption of the BBB in both male and female neonatal mice.

A brain cytokine-independent switch in cortical activity marks the onset of sickness behavior triggered by acute peripheral inflammation

Systemic inflammation triggers protective as well as pro-inflammatory responses in the brain based on neuronal and/or cytokine signaling, and it associates with acutely and protractedly disrupted cognition. However, the multiple mechanisms underlying the peripheral-central inflammatory signaling are still not fully characterized. We used intraperitoneal (i.p.) injection of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) in freely moving mice with chronically implanted electrodes for recording of local field potentials (LFP) and electrocorticography (ECoG) in the hippocampus and neocortex, respectively. We show here that a sudden switch in the mode of network activity occurred in both areas starting at 10-15 min after the LPS injection, simultaneously with a robust change from exploration to sickness behavior. This switch in cortical mode commenced before any elevations in pro-inflammatory cytokines IL-1β, TNFα, CCL2 or IL-6 were detected in brain tissue. Thereafter, this mode dominated cortical activity for the recording period of 3 h, except for a partial and transient recovery around 40 min post-LPS. These effects were closely paralleled by changes in ECoG spectral entropy. Continuous recordings for up to 72 h showed a protracted attenuation in hippocampal activity, while neocortical activity recovered after 48 h. The acute sickness behavior recovered by 72 h post-LPS. Notably, urethane (1.3 mg/kg) administered prior to LPS blocked the early effect of LPS on cortical activity. However, experiments under urethane anesthesia which were started 24 h post-LPS (with neuroinflammation fully developed before application of urethane) showed that both theta-supratheta and fast gamma CA1 activity were reduced, DG delta activity was increased, and sharp-wave ripples were abolished. Finally, we observed that experimental compensation of inflammation-induced hypothermia 24-48 h post-LPS promoted seizures and status epilepticus; and that LPS decreased the threshold of kainate-provoked seizures beyond the duration of acute sickness behavior indicating post-acute inflammatory hyperexcitability. Taken together, the strikingly fast development and initial independence of brain cytokines of the LPS-induced cortical mode, its spectral characteristics and simultaneity in hippocampus and neocortex, as well as inhibition by pre-applied urethane, strongly suggest that the underlying mechanisms are based on activation of the afferent vagus nerve and its mainly cholinergic ascending projections to higher brain areas.

Neutrophil-to-Lymphocyte Ratio Amplifies the Effects of Aging on Decrements in Grip Strength and Its Functional Neural Underpinnings

The neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) is a trans-prognostic biomarker of physiologic stress and inflammation linked to muscle weakness in older adults. Generation of grip force coincides with sustained activity in the primary sensorimotor cortex (SM1). The current study investigates whether whole-brain functional connectivity, that is, degree centrality (CD) of SM1 relates to grip strength and whether both functional measures are predicted by advancing age as a function of the NLR. A structural regression model investigated the main and interactive effects of age and NLR on grip strength and CD of SM1 in 589 adults aged 21-85 years (M = 45.87, SD = 18.06). The model including the entire sample had a good fit (χ 2(4) = 1.63, p = .804). In individuals aged 50 years and older, age predicted lower grip strength and SM1 CD as a function of increasing NLR. In a model stratified by sex, the effect of age, NLR, and their interaction on grip strength are significant for older men but not older women. Analyses support CD of SM1 at rest as a neural biomarker of grip strength. Grip and its neural underpinnings decrease with advancing age and increasing NLR in mid to late life. Age-related decrements in grip strength and functional connectivity of brain regions involved in the generation of dynamic grip appear to be accelerated as a function of systemic physiological stress and inflammation, particularly in older men.

Neuroprotection by Abdominal Ultrasound in Lipopolysaccharide-Induced Systemic Inflammation

Systemic inflammation is associated with intestinal inflammation and neuroinflammation by imbalancing the gut-brain axis. Low-intensity pulsed ultrasound (LIPUS) has neuroprotective and anti-inflammatory effects. This study explored LIPUS's neuroprotective effects against lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced neuroinflammation through transabdominal stimulation. Male C57BL/6J mice were intraperitoneally injected with LPS (0.75 mg/kg) daily for seven days, and abdominal LIPUS was applied to the abdominal area for 15 min/day during the last six days. One day after the last LIPUS treatment, biological samples were collected for microscopic and immunohistochemical analysis. Histological examination showed that LPS administration leads to tissue damage in the colon and brain. Transabdominal LIPUS stimulation attenuated colonic damage, reducing histological score, colonic muscle thickness, and villi shortening. Furthermore, abdominal LIPUS reduced hippocampal microglial activation (labeled by ionized calcium-binding adaptor molecule-1 [Iba-1]) and neuronal cell loss (labeled by microtubule-associated protein 2 [MAP2]). Moreover, abdominal LIPUS attenuated the number of apoptotic cells in the hippocampus and cortex. Altogether, our results indicate that abdominal LIPUS stimulation attenuates LPS-induced colonic inflammation and neuroinflammation. These findings provide new insights into the treatment strategy for neuroinflammation-related brain disorders and may facilitate method development through the gut-brain axis pathway.

Neonatal immune challenge poses a sex-specific risk for epigenetic microglial reprogramming and behavioral impairment

While the precise processes underlying a sex bias in the development of central nervous system (CNS) disorders are unknown, there is growing evidence that an early life immune activation can contribute to the disease pathogenesis. When we mimicked an early systemic viral infection or applied murine cytomegalovirus (MCMV) systemically in neonatal female and male mice, only male adolescent mice presented behavioral deficits, including reduced social behavior and cognition. This was paralleled by an increased amount of infiltrating T cells in the brain parenchyma, enhanced interferon-γ (IFNγ) signaling, and epigenetic reprogramming of microglial cells. These microglial cells showed increased phagocytic activity, which resulted in abnormal loss of excitatory synapses within the hippocampal brain region. None of these alterations were seen in female adolescent mice. Our findings underscore the early postnatal period's susceptibility to cause sex-dependent long-term CNS deficiencies following infections.

Cellular senescence and the blood-brain barrier: Implications for aging and age-related diseases

The blood-brain barrier (BBB) is a critical physiochemical interface that regulates communication between the brain and blood. It is comprised of brain endothelial cells which regulate the BBB's barrier and interface properties and is surrounded by supportive brain cell types including pericytes and astrocytes. Recent reports have suggested that the BBB undergoes dysfunction during normative aging and in disease. In this review, we consider the effect of cellular senescence, one of the nine hallmarks of aging, on the BBB. We first characterize known normative age-related changes at the BBB, and then evaluate changes in neurodegenerative diseases, with an emphasis on if/how cellular senescence is influencing these changes. We then discuss what insight has been gained from in vitro and in vivo studies of cellular senescence at the BBB. Finally, we evaluate mechanisms by which cellular senescence in peripheral pathologies can indirectly or directly affect BBB function.

The Biology of Pain: Through the Rheumatology Lens

Chronic pain is a major socioeconomic burden globally. The most frequent origin of chronic pain is musculoskeletal. In inflammatory musculoskeletal diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis (RA), chronic pain is a primary determinant of deleterious quality of life. The pivotal role of peripheral inflammation in the initiation and perpetuation of nociceptive pain is well-established among patients with musculoskeletal diseases. However, the persistence of pain, even after the apparent resolution of peripheral inflammation, alludes to the coexistence of different pain states. Recent advances in neurobiology have highlighted the importance of nociplastic pain mechanisms. In this review we aimed to explore the biology of pain with a particular focus on nociplastic pain in RA.

Ultrastructural Remodeling of the Blood-Brain Barrier and Neurovascular Unit by Lipopolysaccharide-Induced Neuroinflammation

The blood-brain barrier (BBB) is an interface primarily comprised of brain endothelial cells (BECs), separating the central nervous system (CNS) from the systemic circulation while carefully regulating the transport of molecules and inflammatory cells, and maintaining the required steady-state environment. Inflammation modulates many BBB functions, but the ultrastructural cytoarchitectural changes of the BBB with inflammation are understudied. Inflammation was induced in male 8-10-week-old CD-1 mice with intraperitoneal lipopolysaccharide (LPS), using a regimen (3 mg/kg at 0, 6, and 24 h) that caused robust BBB disruption but had minimal lethality at the study timepoint of 28 h. Perfusion-fixed brains were collected and the frontal cortical layer III regions were analyzed using a transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The LPS-treated mice had pronounced ultrastructural remodeling changes in BECs that included plasma membrane ruffling, increased numbers of extracellular microvesicles, small exosome formation, aberrant BEC mitochondria, increased BEC transcytosis, while tight junctions appeared to be unaltered. Aberrant pericytes were contracted with rounded nuclei and a loss of their elongated cytoplasmic processes. Surveilling microglial cells were attracted to the neurovascular unit (NVU) of BECs, and astrocyte detachment and separation were associated with the formation of a perivascular space and pericapillary edema. The LPS treatment resulted in numerous ultrastructural aberrant remodeling changes to the neurovascular unit's BECs, microglia, pericytes, and astrocytes. In summary, a disturbance of the NVU morphology is a consequence of LPS treatment.

Lipopolysaccharide Exposure Differentially Alters Plasma and Brain Inflammatory Markers in Adult Male and Female Rats

Humans and rodents have sexually dimorphic immune responses, which could influence the brain’s response to a systemic inflammatory insult. Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) is a stimulator of the innate immune system and is routinely used in animal models to study blood–brain barrier (BBB) dysfunction under inflammatory conditions. Therefore, we examined whether inflammatory response to LPS and the associated BBB disruption differed in male and female adult rats. Rats were treated with saline or two injections of 1 mg/kg LPS and studied 24 h after the second LPS injection. Plasma isolated from trunk blood and brain tissue homogenates of the prefrontal cortex (PFC), dorsal striatum (DS), hippocampus, and cerebellum were analyzed for cytokines and chemokines using a 9-plex panel from Meso Scale Discovery. BBB disruption was analyzed with tight junction proteins claudin-5 and VE-cadherin via Western blotting and VEGF by ELISA. This allowed us to compare sex differences in the levels of individual cytokines as well as associations among cytokines and expression of tight junction proteins between the plasma and specific brain regions. Higher levels of interferon-γ, interleukin-10 (IL-10), IL-13, IL-4, CXCL-1, and VEGF in the plasma were revealed compared to the brain homogenates, and higher levels of TNFα, IL-1β, IL-6, and IL-5 in the PFC were seen compared with plasma and other brain regions in males. Females showed higher levels of plasma CXCL1 and VEGF compared to males, and males showed higher levels of PFC TNFα, IL-6, IL-4, and VEGF compared to females. LPS induced significant increases in plasma cytokines and VEGF in both sexes. LPS did not significantly alter cytokines in brain tissue homogenates, however, it increased chemokines in the PFC, DS, and hippocampus. In the PFC, LPS produced BBB disruption, which is evident as reduced expression of claudin-5 in males and reduced expression of VE-cadherin in both sexes. Taken together, our results reveal significant sex differences in pro-inflammatory cytokine and chemokine levels in plasma and brain that were associated with BBB disruption after LPS, and validate the use of multiplex assay for plasma and brain tissue samples.

Higher IL-6 and IL-4 plasma levels in depressed elderly women are influenced by diabetes mellitus

OBJECTIVE

This study aimed at investigating a set of peripheral cytokines in elderly female patients with MDD, comparing them to controls, and assessing the potential influence of clinical comorbidities on inflammatory markers.

METHODS

Twenty-five elderly female patients diagnosed with MDD and 19 age-matched female controls were enrolled on this study. Plasma levels of interleukin (IL)-4, IL-6, IL-10, interferon (IFN)-γ and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α were evaluated with commercially-available assays.

RESULTS

Elderly female patients with MDD exhibited higher plasma IL-6 and IL-4 levels when compared to controls. In a logistic regression model taking cytokine levels, comorbidities, and age into account, only type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM2) remained associated with MDD.

CONCLUSION

Diabetes influences the association between MDD and higher levels of cytokines in elderly female patients. Future studies should take this evidence into account in order to mitigate confounding factors.

Serum Cytokines Predict Neurological Damage in Genetically Diverse Mouse Models

Viral infections contribute to neurological and immunological dysfunction driven by complex genetic networks. Theiler's murine encephalomyelitis virus (TMEV) causes neurological dysfunction in mice and can model human outcomes to viral infections. Here, we used genetically distinct mice from five Collaborative Cross mouse strains and C57BL/6J to demonstrate how TMEV-induced immune responses in serum may predict neurological outcomes in acute infection. To test the hypothesis that serum cytokine levels can provide biomarkers for phenotypic outcomes of acute disease, we compared cytokine levels at pre-injection, 4 days post-injection (d.p.i.), and 14 d.p.i. Each strain produced unique baseline cytokine levels and had distinct immune responses to the injection procedure itself. Thus, we eliminated the baseline responses to the injection procedure itself and identified cytokines and chemokines induced specifically by TMEV infection. Then, we identified strain-specific longitudinal cytokine profiles in serum during acute disease. Using stepwise regression analysis, we identified serum immune markers predictive for TMEV-induced neurological phenotypes of the acute phase, e.g., IL-9 for limb paralysis; and TNF-α, IL-1β, and MIP-1β for limb weakness. These findings indicate how temporal differences in immune responses are influenced by host genetic background and demonstrate the potential of serum biomarkers to track the neurological effects of viral infection.

Measurement of Blood-Brain Barrier Disruption in Mice Following Ozone Exposure Using Highly Sensitive Radiotracer Assays

Ozone is a widespread air toxicant. Although its primary target organ is the lungs, emerging evidence suggests that ozone also has harmful effects on the brain. The vascular blood-brain barrier (BBB), an endothelial interface that regulates passage of substances between the brain and peripheral tissues, is a likely mediator of ozone's adverse effects on the brain. Ozone can cause BBB disruption, a pathological state in which the BBB becomes leaky, resulting in the unregulated entry of circulating substances into the brain. BBB disruption can be detected using many methods, which each have their strengths and limitations. Recent data suggest that BBB disruption can occur in mice following ozone exposures, albeit at a low level. Therefore, robust and highly sensitive assays for BBB disruption are needed. Assays commonly used to detect BBB disruption, however, can be time consuming, lack sensitivity, and can be vulnerable to artifacts that are typically not addressed in the experimental design. Radiochemical assays are among the most sensitive and specific for detecting subtle disruptions of the BBB and require minimal sample processing for detection. Radiochemical assays can also be multiplexed to include radiotracer conjugates of large and small molecular weights, and the uptake of each of them can provide information about the severity and mechanism of BBB disruption. Here, we describe a protocol to use two of these radiotracer conjugates, ¹⁴ C-sucrose and ^99m Tc- albumin, to measure BBB disruption following an acute exposure to ozone in mice. We provide the steps to expose mice acutely to ozone, to label albumin with ^99m Tc-pertechnetate, and to measure BBB disruption by evaluating permeability to ^99m Tc-albumin and ¹⁴ C-sucrose after ozone exposure. These methods can be adapted to different ozone exposure paradigms and to different rodent species/strains, allowing for the sensitive and rapid assessment of BBB disruption that is detectable in whole brains or in brain regions. © 2022 Wiley Periodicals LLC. Basic Protocol 1: Ozone exposures in mice Basic Protocol 2: Measurement of blood-brain barrier disruption by evaluating permeability to ¹⁴ C-sucrose and ^99m Tc-albumin Support Protocol: Labeling of bovine serum albumin with ^99m Tc.

Inflammation-driven brain and gut barrier dysfunction in stress and mood disorders

Regulation of emotions is generally associated exclusively with the brain. However, there is evidence that peripheral systems are also involved in mood, stress vulnerability vs. resilience, and emotion-related memory encoding. Prevalence of stress and mood disorders such as major depression, bipolar disorder, and post-traumatic stress disorder is increasing in our modern societies. Unfortunately, 30%-50% of individuals respond poorly to currently available treatments highlighting the need to further investigate emotion-related biology to gain mechanistic insights that could lead to innovative therapies. Here, we provide an overview of inflammation-related mechanisms involved in mood regulation and stress responses discovered using animal models. If clinical studies are available, we discuss translational value of these findings including limitations. Neuroimmune mechanisms of depression and maladaptive stress responses have been receiving increasing attention, and thus, the first part is centered on inflammation and dysregulation of brain and circulating cytokines in stress and mood disorders. Next, recent studies supporting a role for inflammation-driven leakiness of the blood-brain and gut barriers in emotion regulation and mood are highlighted. Stress-induced exacerbated inflammation fragilizes these barriers which become hyperpermeable through loss of integrity and altered biology. At the gut level, this could be associated with dysbiosis, an imbalance in microbial communities, and alteration of the gut-brain axis which is central to production of mood-related neurotransmitter serotonin. Novel therapeutic approaches such as anti-inflammatory drugs, the fast-acting antidepressant ketamine, and probiotics could directly act on the mechanisms described here improving mood disorder-associated symptomatology. Discovery of biomarkers has been a challenging quest in psychiatry, and we end by listing promising targets worth further investigation.

Sex differences in the blood-brain barrier: Implications for mental health

Prevalence of mental disorders, including major depressive disorder (MDD), bipolar disorder (BD) and schizophrenia (SZ) are increasing at alarming rates in our societies. Growing evidence points toward major sex differences in these conditions, and high rates of treatment resistance support the need to consider novel biological mechanisms outside of neuronal function to gain mechanistic insights that could lead to innovative therapies. Blood-brain barrier alterations have been reported in MDD, BD and SZ. Here, we provide an overview of sex-specific immune, endocrine, vascular and transcriptional-mediated changes that could affect neurovascular integrity and possibly contribute to the pathogenesis of mental disorders. We also identify pitfalls in current literature and highlight promising vascular biomarkers. Better understanding of how these adaptations can contribute to mental health status is essential not only in the context of MDD, BD and SZ but also cardiovascular diseases and stroke which are associated with higher prevalence of these conditions.

Amyloid Beta Pathology Exacerbates Weight Loss and Brain Cytokine Responses following Low-Dose Lipopolysaccharide in Aged Female Tg2576 Mice

Systemic inflammation has been implicated in the progression of Alzheimer’s disease (AD); however, less is understood about how existing AD pathology contributes to adverse outcomes following acute inflammatory insults. In the present study, our goal was to determine how AD-associated amyloid beta (Aβ) pathology influences the acute neuroinflammatory and behavioral responses to a moderate systemic inflammatory insult. We treated 16–18-month-old female Tg2576 (Tg) mice, which overproduce human Aβ and develop plaques, and age-matched wild-type (WT) littermate mice with an intraperitoneal injection of 0.33 mg/kg lipopolysaccharide (LPS) or saline. Mice were then evaluated over the next 28 h for sickness/depressive-like behaviors (food intake, weight loss, locomotion, and sucrose preference), systemic inflammation (serum amyloid A, SAA), blood-brain barrier (BBB) disruption, astrogliosis (glial fibrillary acidic protein/GFAP), Aβ, and cytokine levels in the brain. We found that LPS caused a larger reduction in body weight in Tg vs. WT mice, but that other behavioral responses to LPS did not differ by genotype. BBB disruption was not apparent in either genotype following LPS. Concentrations of the systemic inflammatory marker, SAA, in the blood and brain were significantly increased with LPS but did not significantly differ by genotype. GFAP was increased in Tg mice vs. WT but was not significantly affected by LPS in either genotype. Finally, LPS-induced increases of eight cytokines (IL-1β, IL-6, IL-12 (p40), IL-10, IL-17A, MIP-1α/CCL3, MIP-1β/CCL4, and RANTES/CCL5) were found to be significantly higher in Tg mice vs. WT. In summary, our data show that Aβ pathology exacerbates the neuroinflammatory response to LPS and identifies cytokines that are selectively regulated by Aβ. The association of worse neuroinflammation with greater weight loss in Tg mice suggests that Aβ pathology could contribute to poor outcomes following a systemic inflammatory insult.

Sex differences in behavior, response to LPS, and glucose homeostasis in middle-aged mice

Sex and age have distinct influences and roles in behavior and immune reactivity; yet, most studies use adult male rodents with little attention to middle age, a time associated with key physiological transitions in both sexes. Thus, this study investigated sex differences during middle age in behavior, immune response to lipopolysaccharide (LPS), and glucose regulation in C57BL/6 mice with GFP-tagged monocytes/microglia. Behaviorally, males performed better in tests of motor function (Open Field [OF], Grip Strength, Sticker Removal, Gait, and Pole tests) and displayed less depressive- and anxiety-like behaviors across multiple mood tests (OF, Elevated Zero Maze, Sucrose Preference, and Swim test). However, females performed better in tests of cognition (Barnes Maze and Novel Object Recognition). Following behavioral assessment, mice were given LPS to characterize sex-dependent inflammagen responses. Females displayed greater sickness behavior in the OF, higher levels of peripheral cytokines, and subtle neuroinflammation in the cortex, striatum, and hippocampus. A separate middle-aged cohort was used for glucose tolerance and insulin sensitivity testing. Both sexes had excessive blood glucose rebound after insulin challenge, but displayed differences following glucose administration, where males had higher baseline glucose and females remained hyperglycemic. This study suggests that during middle-age male mice have better emotional regulation and motor function, but not cognitive ability than females. Further, males are less sensitive than females to the acute effects of LPS peripherally and centrally, but both sexes showed sex-specific impairments in blood glucose regulation. Overall, it appears that middle age is an important transition point with multiple sex differences, some of which are unique to this stage of life.

Breakdown of the blood-brain barrier: A mediator of increased Alzheimer's risk in patients with metabolic disorders?

Metabolic disorders (MDs), including type 1 and 2 diabetes and chronic obesity, are among the faster growing diseases globally and are a primary risk factor for Alzheimer's disease (AD). The term "type-3 diabetes" has been proposed for AD due to the interrelated cellular, metabolic, and immune features shared by diabetes, insulin resistance (IR), and the cognitive impairment and neurodegeneration found in AD. Patients with MDs and/or AD commonly exhibit altered glucose homeostasis and IR; systemic chronic inflammation encompassing all of the periphery, blood-brain barrier (BBB), and central nervous system; pathological vascular remodeling; and increased BBB permeability that allows transfusion of neurotoxic molecules from the blood to the brain. This review summarizes the components of the BBB, mechanisms through which MDs alter BBB permeability via immune and metabolic pathways, the contribution of BBB dysfunction to the manifestation and progression of AD, and current avenues of therapeutic research that address BBB permeability. In addition, issues with the translational applicability of current animal models of AD regarding BBB dysfunction and proposals for future directions of research that address the relationship between MDs, BBB dysfunction, and AD are discussed.

Insulin Resistance in the Brain: Evidence Supporting a Role for Inflammation, Reactive Microglia, and the Impact of Biological Sex

Increased intake of highly processed, energy-dense foods combined with a sedentary lifestyle are helping fuel the current overweight and obesity crisis, which is more prevalent in women than in men. Although peripheral organs such as adipose tissue contribute to the physiological development of obesity, emerging work aims to understand the role of the central nervous system to whole-body energy homeostasis and development of weight gain and obesity. The present review discusses the impact of insulin, insulin resistance, free fatty acids, and inflammation on brain function and how these differ between the males and females in the context of obesity. We highlight the potential of microglia, the resident immune cells in the brain, as mediators of neuronal insulin resistance that drive reduced satiety, increased food intake, and thus, obesity.

Alcohol, inflammation, and blood-brain barrier function in health and disease across development

Alcohol is the most commonly used drug of abuse in the world and binge drinking is especially harmful to the brain, though the mechanisms by which alcohol compromises overall brain health remain somewhat elusive. A number of brain diseases and pathological states are accompanied by perturbations in Blood-Brain Barrier (BBB) function, ultimately exacerbating disease progression. The BBB is critical for coordinating activity between the peripheral immune system and the brain. Importantly, BBB integrity is responsive to circulating cytokines and other immune-related signaling molecules, which are powerfully modulated by alcohol exposure. This review will highlight key cellular components of the BBB; discuss mechanisms by which permeability is achieved; offer insight into methodological approaches for assessing BBB integrity; and forecast how alcohol-induced changes in the peripheral and central immune systems might influence BBB function in individuals with a history of binge drinking and ultimately Alcohol Use Disorders (AUD).

The blood-brain barrier in systemic infection and inflammation

The vascular blood-brain barrier is a highly regulated interface between the blood and brain. Its primary function is to protect central neurons while signaling the presence of systemic inflammation and infection to the brain to enable a protective sickness behavior response. With increasing degrees and duration of systemic inflammation, the vascular blood-brain barrier becomes more permeable to solutes, undergoes an increase in lymphocyte trafficking, and is infiltrated by innate immune cells; endothelial cell damage may occasionally occur. Perturbation of neuronal function results in the clinical features of encephalopathy. Here, the molecular and cellular anatomy of the vascular blood-brain barrier is reviewed, first in a healthy context and second in a systemic inflammatory context. Distinct from the molecular and cellular mediators of the blood-brain barrier's response to inflammation, several moderators influence the direction and magnitude at genetic, system, cellular and molecular levels. These include sex, genetic background, age, pre-existing brain pathology, systemic comorbidity, and gut dysbiosis. Further progress is required to define and measure mediators and moderators of the blood-brain barrier's response to systemic inflammation in order to explain the heterogeneity observed in animal and human studies.

Low-dose lipopolysaccharide as an immune regulator for homeostasis maintenance in the central nervous system through transformation to neuroprotective microglia

Microglia, which are tissue-resident macrophages in the brain, play a central role in the brain innate immunity and contribute to the maintenance of brain homeostasis. Lipopolysaccharide is a component of the outer membrane of gram-negative bacteria, and activates immune cells including microglia via Toll-like receptor 4 signaling. Lipopolysaccharide is generally known as an endotoxin, as administration of high-dose lipopolysaccharide induces potent systemic inflammation. Also, it has long been recognized that lipopolysaccharide exacerbates neuroinflammation. In contrast, our study revealed that oral administration of lipopolysaccharide ameliorates Alzheimer's disease pathology and suggested that neuroprotective microglia are involved in this phenomenon. Additionally, other recent studies have accumulated evidence demonstrating that controlled immune training with low-dose lipopolysaccharide prevents neuronal damage by transforming the microglia into a neuroprotective phenotype. Therefore, lipopolysaccharide may not a mere inflammatory inducer, but an immunomodulator that can lead to neuroprotective effects in the brain. In this review, we summarized current studies regarding neuroprotective microglia transformed by immune training with lipopolysaccharide. We state that microglia transformed by lipopolysaccharide preconditioning cannot simply be characterized by their general suppression of proinflammatory mediators and general promotion of anti-inflammatory mediators, but instead must be described by their complex profile comprising various molecules related to inflammatory regulation, phagocytosis, neuroprotection, anti-apoptosis, and antioxidation. In addition, microglial transformation seems to depend on the dose of lipopolysaccharide used during immune training. Immune training of neuroprotective microglia using low-dose lipopolysaccharide, especially through oral lipopolysaccharide administration, may represent an innovative prevention or treatment for neurological diseases; however more vigorous studies are still required to properly modulate these treatments.

Sex-specific responses of the pubertal neuroimmune axis in CD-1 mice

The mechanistic relationship between the sexually dimorphic neuroimmune system and the sex-specific outcomes of a pubertal immune challenge is unclear. Therefore, we examined sex differences in the progression of cytotoxic microglial responses and blood-brain barrier (BBB) disruption to a peripubertal lipopolysaccharide (LPS) treatment in brain regions relevant to stress responses and cognitive function. Six-week-old (i.e., stress-sensitive pubertal period) male and female CD-1 mice were treated with LPS (1.5 ​mg/kg body weight, ip) or 0.9% saline (LPS-matched volume, ip). Sex and treatment differences in microglial (Iba1⁺) and apoptotic neuronal (caspase-3⁺/NeuN⁺) and non-neuronal (caspase-3⁺/NeuN⁻) expression were examined in the hippocampus, medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), and paraventricular nucleus 24 ​h (sickness), one week (symptomatic recovery) and four weeks (early adulthood) post-treatment (n ​= ​8/group). Microglial morphology was quantified with fractal analyses. Group differences in BBB permeability to ¹⁴C-sucrose were examined 24 ​h (whole-brain, hippocampus, prefrontal cortex, hypothalamus, and cerebellum) and one week (whole-brain) post-treatment. The acute effects of pubertal LPS were specific to females (i.e., global BBB disruption, altered microglial expression and morphology in the mPFC and hippocampus, increased hippocampal apoptosis). The residual effects of pubertal LPS-induced sickness observed in microglia persisted into adulthood in a sex- and region-specific manner. In addition to highlighting these sex-specific responses of the pubertal neuroimmune system, we report baseline region-specific sex differences in microglia spanning puberty through adulthood. We propose that these sex differences in neuroimmune-neurovascular interactions during the stress-sensitive pubertal period create sex biases in stress-related disorders of brain and behaviour.

•

Pubertal LPS alters baseline sex differences in microglial numbers and morphology.

•

Pubertal CD-1 mice mount sexually dimorphic neuroimmune responses to systemic LPS.

•

Treatment effects on microglial expression and morphology differ by sex and region.

•

The acute LPS-induced effects were specific to females.

Blood-Brain Barrier Impairment in Patients Living with HIV: Predictors and Associated Biomarkers

Despite the substantial changes resulting from the introduction of combination antiretroviral therapy (cART), the prevalence of HIV-associated neurocognitive disorders (HAND) remains substantial. Blood-brain barrier impairment (BBBi) is a frequent feature in people living with HIV (PLWH) and it may persist despite effective antiretroviral treatment. A cross-sectional study was performed in PLWH who underwent lumbar puncture for clinical reasons or research protocols and several cerebrospinal fluid biomarkers were studied. BBBi was defined as cerebrospinal fluid-to-serum albumin ratio (CSAR) >6.5 (<40 years) or >8 (>40 years). We included 464 participants: 147 cART-naïve and 317 on cART. Male sex was prevalent in both groups (72.1% and 72.2% respectively); median age was 44 (38-52) years in naïve and 49 (43-57) years in treated subjects. BBBi was observed in 35.4% naïve and in 22.7% treated participants; the use of integrase inhibitors was associated with a lower prevalence (18.3 vs. 30.9%, p = 0.050). At multivariate binary logistic regression (including age and sex) nadir CD4 cell count (p = 0.034), presence of central nervous system (CNS) opportunistic infections (p = 0.024) and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) HIV RNA (p = 0.002) in naïve participants and male sex (p = 0.021), a history of CNS opportunistic infections (p = 0.001) and CSF HIV RNA (p = 0.034) in treated patients were independently associated with BBBi. CSF cells and neopterin were significantly higher in participants with BBBi. BBBi was prevalent in naïve and treated PLWH and it was associated with CSF HIV RNA and neopterin. Systemic control of viral replication seems to be essential for BBB integrity while sex and treatment influence need further studies.

Association Between Kawasaki Disease and Childhood Epilepsy: A Nationwide Cohort Study in Taiwan

Background: Kawasaki disease is a common vasculitis of childhood in East Asia. The complications following Kawasaki disease mostly included cardiovascular sequelae; non-cardiac complications have been reported but less studied. This study investigated potential epilepsy following Kawasaki disease in Taiwanese children.

Objectives: Through National Health Insurance Research Database, we retrospectively analyzed the data of children aged <18 years with clinically diagnosed Kawasaki disease from January 1, 2000 to December 31, 2012 in Taiwan. These patients were followed up to estimate the incidence of epilepsy in the Kawasaki cohort in comparison with that in the non-Kawasaki cohort in Taiwan.

Results: A total of 8,463 and 33,872 patients in the Kawasaki and non-Kawasaki cohorts were included in the study, respectively. Of the total eligible study subjects, 61.1% were boys and 38.9% were girls; most patients with newly diagnosed Kawasaki disease were aged <5 years [88.1%]. Patients with Kawasaki disease showed a higher incidence rate [47.98 vs. 27.45 every 100,000 person years] and significantly higher risk [adjusted hazard ratio = 1.66, 95% confidence interval = 1.13–2.44] of epilepsy than those without the disease. Additionally, female sex [adjusted hazard ratio = 2.30, 95% confidence interval = 1.31–4.04] and age <5 years [adjusted hazard ratio = 1.82, 95% confidence interval = 1.22–2.72] showed a significantly higher risk of epilepsy in the Kawasaki cohort.

Conclusion: Results revealed a higher incidence rate and significant risk of epilepsy in Taiwanese children with Kawasaki disease than in those without the disease. Therefore, children diagnosed with Kawasaki disease are recommended follow-up as they have a high risk of epilepsy and seizure disorders.

Perinatal Gram-Positive Bacteria Exposure Elicits Distinct Cytokine Responses In Vitro

During pregnancy, infections caused by the gram-positive bacteria Enterococcus faecalis (E. faecalis), Streptococcus agalacticae (S. agalacticae), and Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) are major reasons for preterm labor, neonatal prematurity, meningitis, or sepsis. Here, we propose cytokine responses to bacterial infections by the immature perinatal immune system as central players in the pathogenesis of preterm birth and neonatal sepsis. We aimed to close the gap in knowledge about such cytokine responses by stimulating freshly isolated umbilical blood mononuclear cells (UBMC) with lysates of E. faecalis, S. agalacticae, and S. aureus collected from pregnant women in preterm labor. Bacterial lysates and, principally, S. aureus and S. agalacticae distinctly triggered most of the eleven inflammatory, anti-inflammatory, TH1/TH2 cytokines, and chemokines quantified in UBMC culture media. Chemokines depicted the most robust induction. Among them, MIP-1β was further enhanced in UBMC from female compered to male newborn infants. Due to its stability and high levels, we investigated the diagnostic value of IL-8. IL-8 was critically upregulated in cord blood of preterm neonates suffering from infections compared to gestational age-matched controls. Our results provide novel clues about perinatal immunity, underscoring a potential value of IL-8 for the timely detection of infections and suggesting that MIP-1β constitutes an early determinant of sex-specific immunity, which may contribute, e.g., to male's vulnerability to preterm birth.

Phosphatidylcholine Ameliorates LPS-Induced Systemic Inflammation and Cognitive Impairments via Mediating the Gut-Brain Axis Balance

Systemic inflammation will cause an imbalance in the steady state of the gut-brain axis. Phosphatidylcholine (PC) is a phospholipid found in egg yolk that has anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties. The present research proved that PC supplementation (60 mg/kg body weight) for 35 days prevented inflammatory responses and behavioral disturbances in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced mice. PC could regulate the expression of neurotrophic factors and synaptic proteins, which effectively alleviated the nerve damage and synaptic dysfunction caused by LPS. In addition, PC supplementation ameliorated gut barrier damage, altered gut genes, and improved gut health by modulating the cell adhesion molecule (CAM) pathway. Furthermore, PC remodeled the gut microbiome structure in the mice of the LPS group by increasing the relative abundance of Rikenellaceae and Lachnospiraceae. PC also increased short-chain fatty acid (SCFA) production in LPS-induced mice, which in turn ameliorated brain inflammatory responses. In conclusion, PC supplementation may be a nutritional strategy for the prevention of systemic inflammation via the gut-brain axis.

Sex specific inflammatory profiles of cerebellar mitochondria are attenuated in Parkinson's disease

Response to inflammation is a key determinant in many diseases and their outcomes. Diseases that commonly affect older people are frequently associated with altered inflammatory processes. Neuroinflammation has been described in Parkinson's disease (PD) brain. PD is characterized by the loss of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra pars compacta and at the sub-cellular level, mitochondrial dysfunction is a key feature. However, there is evidence that a different region of the brain, the cerebellum, is involved in the pathophysiology of PD. We report relative levels of 40 pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokines measured in PD and control cerebellar mitochondria. These data were obtained by screening cytokine antibody arrays. In parallel, we present concentrations of 29 oxylipins and 4 endocannabinoids measured in mitochondrial fractions isolated from post-mortem PD cerebellum with age and sex matched controls. Our oxylipin and endocannabinoid data were acquired via quantitation by LC-ESI-MS/MS. The separate sample sets both show there are clearly different inflammatory profiles between the sexes in control samples. Sex specific profiles were not maintained in cerebellar mitochondria isolated from PD brains.

Hypoxic-ischemic-related cerebrovascular changes and potential therapeutic strategies in the neonatal brain

Perinatal hypoxic-ischemic (HI)-related brain injury is an important cause of morbidity and long-standing disability in newborns. The only currently approved therapeutic strategy available to reduce brain injury in the newborn is hypothermia. Therapeutic hypothermia can only be used to treat HI encephalopathy in full-term infants and survivors remain at high risk for a wide spectrum of neurodevelopmental abnormalities as a result of residual brain injury. Therefore, there is an urgent need for adjunctive therapeutic strategies. Inflammation and neurovascular damage are important factors that contribute to the pathophysiology of HI-related brain injury and represent exciting potential targets for therapeutic intervention. In this review, we address the role of each component of the neurovascular unit (NVU) in the pathophysiology of HI-related injury in the neonatal brain. Disruption of the blood-brain barrier (BBB) observed in the early hours after an HI-related event is associated with a response at the basal lamina level, which comprises astrocytes, pericytes, and immune cells, all of which could affect BBB function to further exacerbate parenchymal injury. Future research is required to determine potential drugs that could prevent or attenuate neurovascular damage and/or augment repair. However, some studies have reported beneficial effects of hypothermia, erythropoietin, stem cell therapy, anti-cytokine therapy and metformin in ameliorating several different facets of damage to the NVU after HI-related brain injury in the perinatal period.

Inter-alpha inhibitor proteins attenuate lipopolysaccharide-induced blood-brain barrier disruption and downregulate circulating interleukin 6 in mice

Circulating levels of inter-alpha inhibitor proteins change dramatically in acute inflammatory disorders, which suggest an important contribution to the immunomodulatory system. Human blood-derived inter-alpha inhibitor proteins are neuroprotective and improve survival of neonatal mice exposed to lipopolysaccharide. Lipopolysaccharide augments inflammatory conditions and disrupts the blood-brain barrier. There is a paucity of therapeutic strategies to treat blood-brain barrier dysfunction, and the neuroprotective effects of human blood-derived inter-alpha inhibitor proteins are not fully understood. To examine the therapeutic potential of inter-alpha inhibitor proteins, we administered human blood-derived inter-alpha inhibitor proteins to male and female CD-1 mice after lipopolysaccharide exposure and quantified blood-brain barrier permeability of intravenously injected 14C-sucrose and 99mTc-albumin. We hypothesized that human blood-derived inter-alpha inhibitor protein treatment would attenuate lipopolysaccharide-induced blood-brain barrier disruption and associated inflammation. Lipopolysaccharide increased blood-brain barrier permeability to both 14C-sucrose and 99mTc-albumin, but human blood-derived inter-alpha inhibitor protein treatment only attenuated increases in 14C-sucrose blood-brain barrier permeability in male mice. Lipopolysaccharide stimulated a more robust elevation of male serum inter-alpha inhibitor protein concentration compared to the elevation measured in female serum. Lipopolysaccharide administration also increased multiple inflammatory factors in serum and brain tissue, including interleukin 6. Human blood-derived inter-alpha inhibitor protein treatment downregulated serum interleukin 6 levels, which were inversely correlated with serum inter-alpha inhibitor protein concentration. We conclude that inter-alpha inhibitor proteins may be neuroprotective through mechanisms of blood-brain barrier disruption associated with systemic inflammation.

Sex-specific and shared expression profiles of vulnerability and resilience to trauma in brain and blood

BACKGROUND

While post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is defined by behavioral/cognitive symptoms most directly relevant to brain function, it can be considered a systemic disorder characterized by a distinct inability to reinstate homeostasis after trauma.

METHODS

In this study, we conducted a secondary analysis of gene expression profiles in key PTSD-relevant tissues, namely blood, amygdala, and hippocampus, from a rat model of PTSD, to identify sex-specific and shared processes associated with individual differences in response to recent trauma exposure.

RESULTS

Our findings suggest both shared and sex-specific mechanisms underlying individual differences associated with vulnerability and resilience to trauma in hippocampus, amygdala, and blood. By disentangling cell composition from transcriptional changes, we found higher proportions of hippocampal oligodendrocytes in the PTSD-like, extreme behavioral response (EBR) group for both sexes and also identified modules for transcriptional activity associated with group differences (i.e., response to trauma) in the hippocampus that appeared to be sex-specific. By contrast, we found prominent sex differences, but no group differences, in amygdalar cell composition, and both shared and sex-specific modules representing PTSD-relevant transcriptional activity in the amygdala. Across amygdala and hippocampus, both sex-specific and shared processes were relevant to an overarching framework for EBR implicating disrupted TNFα/NFκΒ signaling and excitatory/inhibitory imbalance in dysregulated synaptic/structural plasticity with important implications for fear learning and memory. Our main finding in peripheral blood was consistent with the human literature and identified wound healing processes and hemostasis to be upregulated in the resilient, minimal behavioral response (MBR) group across sexes, but disrupted in a sexually dimorphic manner in the EBR group.

CONCLUSION

In contrast to the varied characterization of the PTSD-like EBR group, characterization of MBR across blood, amygdala, and hippocampus suggests a common theme of upregulated wound healing and extracellular matrix (ECM) remodeling shared between sexes. In all, we identified differential oligodendrocyte proportions in hippocampus between PTSD-like EBR and resilient MBR, and identified processes and pathways that characterize the EBR and MBR-associated transcriptional changes across hippocampus, amygdala, and blood. The sex-specific mechanisms involved in EBR may contribute to the pronounced disparity in risk for PTSD, with women much more likely to develop PTSD.

Stress-induced disturbances along the gut microbiota-immune-brain axis and implications for mental health: Does sex matter?

Women are roughly twice as likely as men to suffer from stress-related disorders, especially major depression and generalized anxiety. Accumulating evidence suggest that microbes inhabiting the gastrointestinal tract (the gut microbiota) interact with the host brain and may play a key role in the pathogenesis of mental illnesses. Here, the possibility that sexually dimorphic alterations along the gut microbiota-immune-brain axis could play a role in promoting this female bias of mood and anxiety disorders will be discussed. This review will also analyze the idea that gut microbes and sex hormones influence each other, and that this reciprocal crosstalk may come to modulate inflammatory players along the gut microbiota-immune-brain axis and influence behavior in a sex-dependent way.

Age-Associated Changes in the Immune System and Blood⁻Brain Barrier Functions

Age is associated with altered immune functions that may affect the brain. Brain barriers, including the blood-brain barrier (BBB) and blood-CSF barrier (BCSFB), are important interfaces for neuroimmune communication, and are affected by aging. In this review, we explore novel mechanisms by which the aging immune system alters central nervous system functions and neuroimmune responses, with a focus on brain barriers. Specific emphasis will be on recent works that have identified novel mechanisms by which BBB/BCSFB functions change with age, interactions of the BBB with age-associated immune factors, and contributions of the BBB to age-associated neurological disorders. Understanding how age alters BBB functions and responses to pathological insults could provide important insight on the role of the BBB in the progression of cognitive decline and neurodegenerative disease.