The Perfect Cytokine Storm: How Peripheral Immune Challenges Impact Brain Plasticity & Memory Function in Aging

Overview

Journal Brain Plast

Publisher IOS Press

Date 2021 Oct 11

PMID 34631420

Citations 9

Authors

Stephanie M Muscat

Ruth M Barrientos

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Precipitous declines in cognitive function can occur in older individuals following a variety of peripheral immune insults, such as surgery, infection, injury, and unhealthy diet. Aging is associated with numerous changes to the immune system that shed some light on why this abrupt cognitive deterioration may occur. Normally, peripheral-to-brain immune signaling is tightly regulated and advantageous; communication between the two systems is bi-directional, via either humoral or neural routes. Following an immune challenge, production, secretion, and translocation of cytokines into the brain is critical to the development of adaptive sickness behaviors. However, aging is normally associated with neuroinflammatory priming, notably microglial sensitization. Microglia are the brain's innate immune cells and become sensitized with advanced age, such that upon immune stimulation they will mount more exaggerated neuroimmune responses. The resultant elevation of pro-inflammatory cytokine expression, namely IL-1β, has profound effects on synaptic plasticity and, consequentially, cognition. In this review, we (1) investigate the processes which lead to aberrantly elevated inflammatory cytokine expression in the aged brain and (2) examine the impact of the pro-inflammatory cytokine IL-1β on brain plasticity mechanisms, including its effects on BDNF, AMPA and NMDA receptor-mediated long-term potentiation.

Citing Articles

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Impact of high-fat diet on cognitive behavior and central and systemic inflammation with aging and sex differences in mice.

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Post-operative cognitive dysfunction is exacerbated by high-fat diet via TLR4 and prevented by dietary DHA supplementation.

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Young adult and aged female rats are vulnerable to amygdala-dependent, but not hippocampus-dependent, memory impairment following short-term high-fat diet.

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