TY - JOUR A1 - Couch, Yvonne A1 - Trofimov, Alexander A1 - Markova, Natalyia A1 - Nikolenko, Vladimir A1 - Steinbusch, Harry W. A1 - Chekhonin, Vladimir A1 - Schroeter, Careen A1 - Lesch, Klaus-Peter A1 - Anthony, Daniel C. A1 - Strekalova, Tatyana T1 - Low-dose lipopolysaccharide (LPS) inhibits aggressive and augments depressive behaviours in a chronic mild stress model in mice JF - Journal of Neuroinflammation N2 - Background Aggression, hyperactivity, impulsivity, helplessness and anhedonia are all signs of depressive-like disorders in humans and are often reported to be present in animal models of depression induced by stress or by inflammatory challenges. However, chronic mild stress (CMS) and clinically silent inflammation, during the recovery period after an infection, for example, are often coincident, but comparison of the behavioural and molecular changes that underpin CMS vs a mild inflammatory challenge and impact of the combined challenge is largely unexplored. Here, we examined whether stress-induced behavioural and molecular responses are analogous to lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced behavioural and molecular effects and whether their combination is adaptive or maladaptive. Methods Changes in measures of hedonic sensitivity, helplessness, aggression, impulsivity and CNS and systemic cytokine and 5-HT-system-related gene expression were investigated in C57BL/6J male mice exposed to chronic stress alone, low-dose LPS alone or a combination of LPS and stress. Results When combined with a low dose of LPS, chronic stress resulted in an enhanced depressive-like phenotype but significantly reduced manifestations of aggression and hyperactivity. At the molecular level, LPS was a strong inducer of TNFα, IL-1β and region-specific 5-HT2A mRNA expression in the brain. There was also increased serum corticosterone as well as increased TNFα expression in the liver. Stress did not induce comparable levels of cytokine expression to an LPS challenge, but the combination of stress with LPS reduced the stress-induced changes in 5-HT genes and the LPS-induced elevated IL-1β levels. Conclusions It is evident that when administered independently, both stress and LPS challenges induced distinct molecular and behavioural changes. However, at a time when LPS alone does not induce any overt behavioural changes per se, the combination with stress exacerbates depressive and inhibits aggressive behaviours. KW - SERT KW - Chronic stress KW - LPS KW - Aggressive behaviour KW - S-HT KW - Cytokines Y1 - 2016 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-165676 VL - 13 IS - 108 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Fuj, Shigeo A1 - Kapp, Markus A1 - Einsele, Hermann T1 - Possible Implication of Bacterial Infection in Acute Graft-Versus-Host Disease after Allogeneic Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation JF - Frontiers in Oncology N2 - Graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) is still one of the major causes of morbidity and mortality in allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT). In the pathogenesis of acute GVHD, it has been established that donor-derived T-cells activated in the recipient play a major role in GVHD in initiation and maintenance within an inflammatory cascade. To reduce the risk of GVHD, intensification of GVHD prophylaxis like T-cell depletion is effective, but it inevitably increases the risk of infectious diseases and abrogates beneficial graft-versus-leukemia effects. Although various cytokines are considered to play an important role in the pathogenesis of GVHD, GVHD initiation is such a complex process that cannot be prevented by means of single inflammatory cytokine inhibition. Thus, efficient methods to control the whole inflammatory milieu both on cellular and humoral view are needed. In this context, infectious diseases can theoretically contribute to an elevation of inflammatory cytokines after allogeneic HSCT and activation of various subtypes of immune effector cells, which might in summary lead to an aggravation of acute GVHD. The appropriate treatments or prophylaxis of bacterial infection during the early phase after allogeneic HSCT might be beneficial to reduce not only infectious-related but also GVHD-related mortality. Here, we aim to review the literature addressing the interactions of bacterial infections and GVHD after allogeneic HSCT. KW - pathogen-associated molecular patterns KW - LPS KW - GVHD KW - bacterial infection KW - allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation Y1 - 2014 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-120674 SN - 2234-943X VL - 4 IS - 89 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Gergs, Ulrich A1 - Jahn, Tina A1 - Schulz, Nico A1 - Großmann, Claudia A1 - Rueckschloss, Uwe A1 - Demus, Uta A1 - Buchwalow, Igor B. A1 - Neumann, Joachim T1 - Protein phosphatase 2A improves cardiac functional response to ischemia and sepsis JF - International Journal of Molecular Sciences N2 - Reversible protein phosphorylation is a posttranslational modification of regulatory proteins involved in cardiac signaling pathways. Here, we focus on the role of protein phosphatase 2A (PP2A) for cardiac gene expression and stress response using a transgenic mouse model with cardiac myocyte-specific overexpression of the catalytic subunit of PP2A (PP2A-TG). Gene and protein expression were assessed under basal conditions by gene chip analysis and Western blotting. Some cardiac genes related to the cell metabolism and to protein phosphorylation such as kinases and phosphatases were altered in PP2A-TG compared to wild type mice (WT). As cardiac stressors, a lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced sepsis in vivo and a global cardiac ischemia in vitro (stop-flow isolated perfused heart model) were examined. Whereas the basal cardiac function was reduced in PP2A-TG as studied by echocardiography or as studied in the isolated work-performing heart, the acute LPS- or ischemia-induced cardiac dysfunction deteriorated less in PP2A-TG compared to WT. From the data, we conclude that increased PP2A activity may influence the acute stress tolerance of cardiac myocytes. KW - protein phosphorylation KW - PP2A KW - transgenic mice KW - heart KW - LPS KW - sepsis KW - ischemia Y1 - 2022 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-284035 SN - 1422-0067 VL - 23 IS - 9 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Heidt, Christina A1 - Kämmerer, Ulrike A1 - Fobker, Manfred A1 - Rüffer, Andreas A1 - Marquardt, Thorsten A1 - Reuss-Borst, Monika T1 - Assessment of intestinal permeability and inflammation bio-markers in patients with rheumatoid arthritis JF - Nutrients N2 - Increased intestinal permeability and inflammation, both fueled by dysbiosis, appear to contribute to rheumatoid arthritis (RA) pathogenesis. This single-center pilot study aimed to investigate zonulin, a marker of intestinal permeability, and calprotectin, a marker of intestinal inflammation, measured in serum and fecal samples of RA patients using commercially available kits. We also analyzed plasma lipopolysaccharide (LPS) levels, a marker of intestinal permeability and inflammation. Furthermore, univariate, and multivariate regression analyses were carried out to determine whether or not there were associations of zonulin and calprotectin with LPS, BMI, gender, age, RA-specific parameters, fiber intake, and short-chain fatty acids in the gut. Serum zonulin levels were more likely to be abnormal with a longer disease duration and fecal zonulin levels were inversely associated with age. A strong association between fecal and serum calprotectin and between fecal calprotectin and LPS were found in males, but not in females, independent of other biomarkers, suggesting that fecal calprotectin may be a more specific biomarker than serum calprotectin is of intestinal inflammation in RA. Since this was a proof-of-principle study without a healthy control group, further research is needed to validate fecal and serum zonulin as valid biomarkers of RA in comparison with other promising biomarkers. KW - rheumatoid arthritis KW - zonulin KW - calprotectin KW - LPS KW - fecal short-chain fatty acids KW - fiber intake KW - intestinal permeability KW - intestinal inflammation Y1 - 2023 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-319377 SN - 2072-6643 VL - 15 IS - 10 ER -