Investigating the Link Between Neuroinflammation and Infection in Older Adults

Published on September 7, 2022

Imagine your brain as a bustling city, where different areas work together to keep everything running smoothly. But what happens when there’s an infection? This study delves into the world of neuroinflammation, which is like the city’s immune response, and its connection to acute systemic bacterial infection in older adults with cognitive dysfunction. By using molecular imaging techniques, the researchers measured the magnitude of the neuroinflammatory response in participants with dementia, delirium, or both, compared to cognitively healthy individuals. The results showed that those with dementia and/or delirium had a reduced neuroinflammatory response to infection, possibly due to an immunosuppressive environment in their brains. This insight could shed light on the pathophysiology of neurodegenerative conditions and provide a step forward in understanding how infections impact cognitive health. To dive deeper into this fascinating research, check out the full article!

IntroductionChronic neuroinflammatory events have been implicated in the pathophysiology of neurodegenerative conditions but no studies have directly examined the neuroinflammatory response to acute systemic infection in older people with dementia. The objective of this study was to determine the magnitude of the neuroinflammatory response triggered by acute systemic infection in older subjects with dementia and/or delirium compared to cognitively healthy controls.MethodsWe recruited 19 participants (4 with delirium, 4 with dementia, 4 with delirium superimposed on dementia, 7 cognitively healthy) hospitalized with acute systemic bacterial infection not involving the Central Nervous System. Participants underwent [11C]-PK11195 PET and a neuropsychological assessment during hospital stay. The distribution volume ratio was estimated in the regions-of-interest using the Hammers’ brain atlas.ResultsIn the subcortical analysis, we found that the cognitively healthy group presented regions with significantly higher DVR intensity than the other groups in the choroid plexus. Mean choroid plexus DVR positively correlated with MoCA (r = 0.66, p = 0.036).ConclusionThis study suggests that dementia and/or delirium is associated with a reduced neuroinflammatory response to acute systemic bacterial infection which can be the result of an immunosuppressive brain environment.

Read Full Article (External Site)

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

You may use these HTML tags and attributes:

<a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>