Neuro-Inflammation and re-defining the "BIG PICTURE"

"Neuroinflammation" is DOMINATING much of the RESEARCH regarding "PSYCHIATRIC DISORDERS" --- but it largely hasn't gotten to CLINICIANS.

Monday --- we're getting back to our letter to the American Bar Association. 

In some ways, I do think LAWYERS tend to be MORE FLEXIBLE THINKERS and INTEGRATERS OF KNOWLEDGE.

THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM and POLICYMAKERS need FLEXIBILITY OF THOUGHT and and ability to INTEGRATE VAST AMOUNTS OF KNOWLEDGE.

By and large, Flexibility of Thought and Integration of Knowledge involve IDENTIFYING ANOMALIES and RE-WORKING that BIG PICTURE.

Neuroinflammation in psychiatric disorders: PET imaging and promising new targets (2020) 

​Affiliations

1Campbell Family Mental Health Research Institute, Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
2Centre for Psychiatry Research, Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet and Stockholm Health Care Services, Stockholm, Sweden.
3Molecular Imaging Branch, National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, MD, USA.
4Taub Institute for Research on Alzheimer's Disease and the Aging Brain, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA.
5Molecular Imaging Branch, National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, MD, USA.

Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor in Brain Disorders:  Focus on Neuroinflammation (2019)

​University of Groningen Medical Center --- The Netherlands

Pontifical Catholic University of ​Rio Grande do Sul in Brazil ​

​Abstract

Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) is one of the most studied neurotrophins in the healthy and diseased brain.

As a result, there is a large body of evidence that associates BDNF with neuronal maintenance, neuronal survival, plasticity, and neurotransmitter regulation.

Patients with psychiatric and neurodegenerative disorders often have reduced BDNF concentrations in their blood and brain.

A current hypothesis suggests that these abnormal BDNF levels might be due to the chronic inflammatory state of the brain in certain disorders, as neuroinflammation is known to affect several BDNF-related signaling pathways.

Activation of glia cells can induce an increase in the levels of pro- and antiinflammatory cytokines and reactive oxygen species, which can lead to the modulation of neuronal function and neurotoxicity observed in several brain pathologies.

Understanding how neuroinflammation is involved in disorders of the brain, especially in the disease onset and progression, can be crucial for the development of new strategies of treatment.

Despite the increasing evidence for the involvement of BDNF and neuroinflammation in brain disorders, there is scarce evidence that addresses the interaction between the neurotrophin and neuroinflammation in psychiatric and neurodegenerative diseases.

This review focuses on the effect of acute and chronic inflammation on BDNF levels in the most common psychiatric and neurodegenerative disorders and aims to shed some light on the possible biological mechanisms that may influence this effect.

In addition, this review will address the effect of behavior and pharmacological interventions on BDNF levels in these disorders.

​Affiliations
​
1Neurobiology and Developmental Biology Laboratory, Faculty of Biosciences, Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul, Ipiranga Av. 6681, Porto Alegre, 90619-900, Brazil.
2Department of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging, University of Groningen, University Medical Center Groningen, Hanzeplein 1, P.O. Box 31.001, 9713 GZ, Groningen, The Netherlands.
3Department of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging, University of Groningen, University Medical Center Groningen, Hanzeplein 1, P.O. Box 31.001, 9713 GZ, Groningen, The Netherlands.