Measuring effects of neuroinflammation on behaviour

Organisers: Uli Eisel and Regien Schoemaker, University of Groningen

Schedule: Thursday 28th August, 11:10-12:50, Pomonazaal

It is well appreciated that our mood and sense of well-being can severely be affected by inflammatory responses, such as an upcoming common cold, and is called “sickness behaviour”.  The important implication of this phenomenon is that the brain can respond on a peripheral inflammatory event. The brain response consists of the translated peripheral inflammatory response into specific brain areas; neuroinflammation.
Recent developments provide evidence that immune responses are not merely exceptional mechanisms affecting our brain function, but rather play an important role in almost all situations in life, as they form a part of the basic mechanisms in neurodegenerative processes, such as in depression and cognition, and hence may be considered to form a non-neuronal and non-humoral link between peripheral and central inflammatory response mechanisms.
In this symposium, aspects of neuroinflammation will be presented as underlying mechanism in depressive behaviour and cognitive decline. Tests on depression will cover studies in patients as well as experimental animals. To wrap things up, in the final presentation, the clinically serious condition of postoperative cognitive decline is presented combining the effects of peripherally induced inflammation (surgery wound healing) and consequently observed neuroinflammation in selective behavioural tests on mood as well as cognition in animals.
We intent to elucidate on how behavioural changes, such as depression and cognitive decline could be measured and how the observed behavioural may be linked to neuroinflammation.

Presentations:

Time Authors Title
11:10-11:30 Aye Mu Myint, Ludwig-Maximilian University, Germany. Effects of inflammatory markers on the behaviour in depressed patients
11:30-11:50 Christopher Pryce, Damiano Azzinnari, Giorgio Bergamini, Federica Klaus, Flurin Cathomas, Rene Fuertig, Angelo Ceci and Bastian Hengerer, University of Zurich, Switzerland. Measuring depression-relevant behavioural states in mouse models for the inflammation hypothesis of depression
11:50-12:10 Leonie Gouweleeuw, Uli Eisel, Pieter Naude and Regien Schoemaker. The role of Neutrophil Gelatinase Associated Lipocalin in linking Depression and Heart Failure
12:10-12:30 Iris Hovens, Regien Schoemaker, Eddy van der Zee and Barbara van Leeuwen. University of Groningen, the Netherlands. Unraveling the Role of Neuroinflammation in Surgery-induced Cognitive Impairment
12:30-12:50 Uli Eisel and Regien Schoemaker, University of Groningen, the Netherlands. Summary and discussion

Schedule