28.11.2012, 17:15 - HZI Colloquium - Wissenschaftlich
Manuel Buttini "Neuroinflammation: Friend or Foe?"

Inflammation is a defence reaction against insults or infections, designed to remove noxious agents and to inhibit their detrimental effects. Inflammation accompanies all neurological afflictions, such as traumatic brain injuries, nervous system infections, and chronic neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s diseases. Neuroinflammation, while having a number of specific features, is at least as intricate and tightly regulated as its counterpart in the periphery. It can be triggered by the accumulation of abnormal proteins, by signals emanating from injured neurons, or by infectious agents invading nervous tissue. Inflammatory processes can either promote or counteract neurodegenerative processes, and it has been difficult to pinpoint their roles in specific pathological situations. Many insights about the role of different inflammatory factors and cellular mediators in the nervous system have come over the last decade from animal model studies. The seminar will give an overview on what these studies have revealed about the role of inflammation in the nervous system. One overall theme that will emerge is that, since many inflammatory responses are beneficial, directing and instructing the inflammatory machinery may be a better therapeutic objective than just suppressing it.
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