In the article,
“Brain Inflammation Dramatically Disrupts Memory Retrieval Networks”, from the
website called “Neuroscience News”, a research done by neuroscientists Jennifer
Czerniawski and John Guzowski proved that immune system signaling molecules
called cytokines cause a defect in the functioning of the hippocampus. This
area of the brain is crucial for declarative, or explicit memory. The purpose
of the research is to explain the cognitive deficits that occur in in people
undergoing chemotherapy and those with neurodegenerative diseases.
The high cytokine
levels in the hippocampus only affected the explicit memory, meaning anything
that was done recently that needs to be retrieved from memory. However, the
explicit memory, or any memory that does not require conscious thought, was not
affected by brain inflammation. The research involved rats that were placed in
two similar but distinguishable environments over several days. One
environment, however, gave the rats a mild foot shock daily. The researchers
used Pavlov’s classical conditioning to teach the rats to know which
environment will shock them and which one wont. The conditioned stimulus was
the shock in the foot and the conditioned stimulus was the nervous behavior in
the environment.
The rats were then
given a low does of a bacterial agent that induced neuroinflammation and
cytokine release into the brain. The rats were no longer able to identify the
difference between the two environments. It was not said specifically how the
researchers viewed the activity patterns of neurons in different networks of
the rats brains, but I would assume it was similar to a Scalp
Electroencephalography (EEG) because it
can record electrical activity from the brain and has excellent temporal
resolution.
This
research connects to the retrieval of explicit information in the hippocampus
that we talked about in class. It also showed how neuronal activity could be
stimulated and analyzed using neuroimaging. The researches hope to continue
this study in order to find a simple intervention, such as anti-inflammatory
drug, to help chemo patients.
http://neurosciencenews.com/neuroinflammation-hippocampus-memory-1320/
This article relates to an important discovery. There are confirmed features of the immune system in the brain. The presence of lymphatic vasculature will restructure the way scientists look at neuroimmunology and neuroinflammatory responses. I am anticipating changes in how people treat diseases of the brain.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v523/n7560/full/nature14432.html
I posted about an article I read about the recent discovery of a direct connection between the brain and the immune system. Researchers found lymphatic vessels in the brain that previously weren't thought existed, which may help explain why cytokine release in the brain and neuroinflammation as an immune response to chemo disrupts these networks. I think it's really interesting and important how new discoveries and advancements in technology can help understand and potentially develop alternatives to counteract the damaging effects of chemo to healthy cells. Hopefully, this new discovery will help treat neurological diseases and the detrimental effects of neuroinflammation caused by chemo and other treatments.
ReplyDeleteJust in case you are interested in reading the article about the discovery, here is the link: http://www.pri.org/stories/2015-07-04/scientists-have-discovered-missing-link-between-brain-and-immune-system