| 1. |
- Björk Wilhelms, Daniel, et al.
(författare)
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Cyclooxygenase isoform exchange blocks inflammatory symptoms
- 2014
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Annan publikation (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Cyclooxygenase‐2 (COX‐2) is the main source of inducible prostaglandin E2 production and mediates inflammatory symptoms including fever, loss of appetite and hyperalgesia. In contrast, COX‐1 is dispensable for most inflammatory symptoms. Global deletion of COX‐2 leads to a blockade of inflammation‐induced fever and appetite loss but also to high rates of fetal mortality. The latter is unfortunate since mice without COX‐2 are powerful tools in the study of inflammation and cardiovascular medicine. The differential functionality of the COX isoforms could be due to differences in regulatory regions of the genes, leading to different expression patterns, or to differences in the coding sequence, leading to distinct functional properties of the proteins. To study this in the context of inflammatory symptoms, we used mice in which the coding sequence of COX‐2 was replaced by the corresponding sequence of COX‐1. In these mice, COX‐1 mRNA was induced by inflammation but COX‐1 protein expression did not fully mimic inflammation‐induced COX‐2 expression. Just like mice globally lacking COX‐2, these mice showed a complete lack of fever and inflammation‐induced anorexia. However, as previously reported, they displayed close to normal survival rates. This shows that the COX activity generated from the hybrid gene was strong enough to allow survival but not strong enough to mediate inflammatory symptoms, making the line an interesting alternative to COX‐2 knockouts for the study of inflammation. Our results also show that the functional differences between COX‐1 and COX‐2 in the context of inflammatory symptoms is not only dependent on the features of the promoter regions. Instead they indicate that there are fundamental differences between the isoforms at translational or posttranslational levels, which make hybrid genes less functional.
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| 2. |
- Eskilsson, Anna, et al.
(författare)
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Immune-Induced Fever Is Dependent on Local But Not Generalized Prostaglandin E-2 Synthesis in the Brain
- 2017
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Ingår i: Journal of Neuroscience. - : SOC NEUROSCIENCE. - 0270-6474 .- 1529-2401. ; 37:19, s. 5035-5044
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Fever occurs upon binding of prostaglandin E-2 (PGE(2)) to EP3 receptors in the median preoptic nucleus of the hypothalamus, but the origin of the pyrogenic PGE(2) has not been clearly determined. Here, using mice of both sexes, we examined the role of local versus generalized PGE(2) production in the brain for the febrile response. In wild-type mice and in mice with genetic deletion of the prostaglandin synthesizing enzyme cyclooxygenase-2 in the brain endothelium, generated with an inducible CreER(T2) under the Slco1c1 promoter, PGE(2) levels in the CSF were only weakly related to the magnitude of the febrile response, whereas the PGE(2) synthesizing capacity in the hypothalamus, as reflected in the levels of cyclooxygenase-2 mRNA, showed strong correlation with the immune-induced fever. Histological analysis showed that the deletion of cyclooxygenase-2 in brain endothelial cells occurred preferentially in small-and medium-sized vessels deep in the brain parenchyma, such as in the hypothalamus, whereas larger vessels, and particularly those close to the neocortical surface and in the meninges, were left unaffected, hence leaving PGE(2) synthesis largely intact in major parts of the brain while significantly reducing it in the region critical for the febrile response. Furthermore, injection of a virus vector expressing microsomal prostaglandin E synthase-1 (mPGES-1) into the median preoptic nucleus of fever-refractive mPGES-1 knock-out mice, resulted in a temperature elevation in response to LPS. We conclude that the febrile response is dependent on local release of PGE(2) onto its target neurons and not on the overall PGE(2) production in the brain.
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| 3. |
- Eskilsson, Anna, et al.
(författare)
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Immune-Induced Fever Is Mediated by IL-6 Receptors on Brain Endothelial Cells Coupled to STAT3-Dependent Induction of Brain Endothelial Prostaglandin Synthesis
- 2014
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Ingår i: Journal of Neuroscience. - : Society for Neuroscience. - 0270-6474 .- 1529-2401. ; 34:48, s. 15957-15961
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The cytokine IL-6, which is released upon peripheral immune challenge, is critical for the febrile response, but the mechanism by which IL-6 is pyrogenic has remained obscure. Herewegenerated mice with deletion of themembranebound IL-6 receptor alpha (IL-6R alpha) onneural cells, on peripheral nerves, on fine sensory afferent fibers, and on brain endothelial cells, respectively, and examined its role for the febrile response to peripherally injected lipopolysaccharide. We show that IL-6R alpha on neural cells, peripheral nerves, and fine sensory afferents are dispensable for the lipopolysaccharide-induced fever, whereas IL-6R alpha in the brain endothelium plays an important role. Hence deletion of IL-6R alpha on brain endothelial cells strongly attenuated the febrile response, and also led to reduced induction of the prostaglandin synthesizing enzyme Cox-2 in the hypothalamus, the temperature-regulating center in the brain, as well as reduced expression of SOCS3, suggesting involvement of the STAT signaling pathway. Furthermore, deletion of STAT3 in the brain endothelium also resulted in attenuated fever. These data show that IL-6, when endogenously released during systemic inflammation, is pyrogenic by binding to IL-6R alpha on brain endothelial cells to induce prostaglandin synthesis in these cells, probably in concerted action with other peripherally released cytokines.
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| 4. |
- Klawonn, Anna, 1985-, et al.
(författare)
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Motivational valence is determined by striatal melanocortin 4 receptors
- 2018
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Ingår i: Journal of Clinical Investigation. - : AMER SOC CLINICAL INVESTIGATION INC. - 0021-9738 .- 1558-8238. ; 128:7, s. 3160-3170
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- It is critical for survival to assign positive or negative valence to salient stimuli in a correct manner. Accordingly, harmful stimuli and internal states characterized by perturbed homeostasis are accompanied by discomfort, unease, and aversion. Aversive signaling causes extensive suffering during chronic diseases, including inflammatory conditions, cancer, and depression. Here, we investigated the role of melanocortin 4 receptors (MC4Rs) in aversive processing using genetically modified mice and a behavioral test in which mice avoid an environment that they have learned to associate with aversive stimuli. In normal mice, robust aversions were induced by systemic inflammation, nausea, pain, and. opioid receptorinduced dysphoria. In sharp contrast, mice lacking MC4Rs displayed preference or indifference toward the aversive stimuli. The unusual flip from aversion to reward in mice lacking MC4Rs was dopamine dependent and associated with a change from decreased to increased activity of the dopamine system. The responses to aversive stimuli were normalized when MC4Rs were reexpressed on dopamine D1 receptor-expressing cells or in the striatum of mice otherwise lacking MC4Rs. Furthermore, activation of arcuate nucleus proopiomelanocortin neurons projecting to the ventral striatum increased the activity of striatal neurons in an MC4R-dependent manner and elicited aversion. Our findings demonstrate that melanocortin signaling through striatal MC4Rs is critical for assigning negative motivational valence to harmful stimuli.
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| 5. |
- Mirrasekhian, Elahe, 1978-
(författare)
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Immune-to-Brain Signaling in Fever : The Brain Endothelium as Interface
- 2020
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Fever is a brain-regulated elevation of body temperature that occurs in response to infectious and non-infectious stimuli. During inflammatory episodes, circulating cytokines that are released by activated immune cells, trigger the induction of cyclooxygenase (COX)-2 in the ventromedial preoptic area of the hypothalamus (the thermoregulation center). COX-2-dependent-prostaglandin (PG)E2 synthesis is essential for the generation of fever and upon an immune challenge, it is induced in several cells within the brain including the brain endothelial cells and perivascular macrophages. However, due to lack of experimental models with cell type-specific modulation of PGE2 synthesizing enzymes, the cellular source of pyrogenic PGE2 and its induction mechanism(s) remained obscure. Using such technology, we showed that the brain endothelium is the cellular source of pyrogenic PGE2 and that activation of brain endothelial IL-6 receptors by circulating IL-6 is critical for the PGE2 induction.Inhibition of PGE2 synthesis is assumed to be the mode of action of many antipyretic drugs, possibly including paracetamol. Given that paracetamol at a high dose has been shown to induce hypothermia by activation of the transient receptor potential ankyrin 1 (TRPA1) ion channel, we examined whether the antipyretic effect of paracetamol is also TRPA1 dependent. Our findings revealed that the antipyretic effect of paracetamol is independent of TRPA1 and associated with inhibition of the PGE2 synthesis in the brain.This thesis provides new insight into the molecular mechanism behind the febrile response in which the peripheral circulating IL-6 communicates with the brain by induction of pyrogenic PGE2 in the brain endothelium. It also demonstrates that the antipyretic effect of paracetamol is exerted by inhibition of the PGE2 synthesis in the brain.
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| 6. |
- Mirrasekhian, Elahe, 1978-, et al.
(författare)
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The antipyretic effect of paracetamol occurs independent of transient receptor potential ankyrin 1–mediated hypothermia and is associated with prostaglandin inhibition in the brain
- 2018
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Ingår i: FASEB Journal. - : Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology. - 0892-6638 .- 1530-6860. ; 32:10, s. 5751-5759
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The mode of action of paracetamol (acetaminophen), which is widely used for treating pain and fever, has remained obscure, but may involve several distinct mechanisms, including cyclooxygenase inhibition and transient receptor potential ankyrin 1 (TRPA1) channel activation, the latter being recently associated with paracetamol’s propensity to elicit hypothermia at higher doses. Here, we examined whether the antipyretic effect of paracetamol was due to TRPA1 activation or cyclooxygenase inhibition. Treatment of wild-type and TRPA1 knockout mice rendered febrile by immune challenge with LPS with a dose of paracetamol that did not produce hypothermia (150 mg/kg) but is known to be analgetic, abolished fever in both genotypes. Paracetamol completely suppressed the LPS-induced elevation of prostaglandin E2 in the brain and also reduced the levels of several other prostanoids. The hypothermia induced by paracetamol was abolished in mice treated with the electrophile-scavenger N-acetyl cysteine. We conclude that paracetamol’s antipyretic effect in mice is dependent on inhibition of cyclooxygenase activity, including the formation of pyrogenic prostaglandin E2, whereas paracetamol-induced hypothermia likely is mediated by the activation of TRPA1 by electrophilic metabolites of paracetamol, similar to its analgesic effect in some experimental paradigms.
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| 7. |
- Nilsson, Anna, et al.
(författare)
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Inflammation-induced anorexia and fever are elicited by distinct prostaglandin dependent mechanisms, whereas conditioned taste aversion is prostaglandin independent.
- 2017
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Ingår i: Brain, behavior, and immunity. - : Elsevier. - 0889-1591 .- 1090-2139. ; 61, s. 236-243
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Systemic inflammation evokes an array of brain-mediated responses including fever, anorexia and taste aversion. Both fever and anorexia are prostaglandin dependent but it has been unclear if the cell-type that synthesizes the critical prostaglandins is the same. Here we show that pharmacological inhibition or genetic deletion of cyclooxygenase (COX)-2, but not of COX-1, attenuates inflammation-induced anorexia. Mice with deletions of COX-2 selectively in brain endothelial cells displayed attenuated fever, as demonstrated previously, but intact anorexia in response to peripherally injected lipopolysaccharide (10μg/kg). Whereas intracerebroventricular injection of a cyclooxygenase inhibitor markedly reduced anorexia, deletion of COX-2 selectively in neural cells, in myeloid cells or in both brain endothelial and neural cells had no effect on LPS-induced anorexia. In addition, COX-2 in myeloid and neural cells was dispensable for the fever response. Inflammation-induced conditioned taste aversion did not involve prostaglandin signaling at all. These findings collectively show that anorexia, fever and taste aversion are triggered by distinct routes of immune-to-brain signaling.
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| 8. |
- Singh, Anand Kumar, et al.
(författare)
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Prostaglandin-mediated inhibition of serotonin signaling controls the affective component of inflammatory pain
- 2017
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Ingår i: Journal of Clinical Investigation. - : AMER SOC CLINICAL INVESTIGATION INC. - 0021-9738 .- 1558-8238. ; 127:4, s. 1370-1374
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Pain is fundamentally unpleasant and induces a negative affective state. The affective component of pain is mediated by circuits that are distinct from those mediating the sensory-discriminative component. Here, we have investigated the role of prostaglandins in the affective dimension of pain using a rodent pain assay based on conditioned place aversion to formalin injection, an inflammatory noxious stimulus. We found that place aversion induced by inflammatory pain depends on prostaglandin E-2 that is synthesized by cyclooxygenase 2 in neural cells. Further, mice lacking the prostaglandin E-2 receptor EP3 selectively on serotonergic cells or selectively in the area of the dorsal raphe nucleus failed to form an aversion to formalininduced pain, as did mice lacking the serotonin transporter. Chemogenetic manipulations revealed that EP3 receptor activation elicited conditioned place aversion to pain via inhibition of serotonergic neurons. In contrast to their role in inflammatory pain aversion, EP3 receptors on serotonergic cells were dispensable for acute nociceptive behaviors and for aversion induced by thermal pain or a kappa opioid receptor agonist. Collectively, our findings show that prostaglandin-mediated modulation of serotonergic transmission controls the affective component of inflammatory pain.
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| 9. |
- Stojakovic, Andrea, et al.
(författare)
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Several behavioral traits relevant for alcoholism are controlled by gamma 2 subunit containing GABA(A) receptors on dopamine neurons in mice
- 2018
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Ingår i: Neuropsychopharmacology. - : NATURE PUBLISHING GROUP. - 0893-133X .- 1740-634X. ; 43:7, s. 1548-1556
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The risk factors for developing alcohol addiction include impulsivity, high sensitivity to the rewarding action of ethanol, and low sensitivity to its sedative and intoxicating effects. Genetic variation in GABA(A) receptor subunits, including the gamma 2 subunit (Gabrg2), affects the risk for developing alcoholism. Alcohol directly potentiates GABA(A) receptors and activates the mesolimbic dopamine system. Here, we deleted Gabrg2 selectively in dopamine cells of adult mice. The deletion resulted in elevated firing of dopamine neurons and made them less sensitive to drugs acting at GABA(A) receptors. At the behavioral level, the deletion increased exploratory behavior and augmented both correct and incorrect responding in the go/no-go task, a test often used to assay the response inhibition component of impulsivity. In addition, conditioned place preference to alcohol, but not to cocaine or morphine, was increased. Ethanol-induced locomotor activation was enhanced in the mice lacking Gabrg2 on dopaminergic cells, whereas the sedative effect of alcohol was reduced. Finally, the alcohol drinking, but not the alcohol preference, at a high concentration was increased in the mutant mice. In summary, deletion of Gabrg2 on dopamine cells induced several behavioral traits associated with high risk of developing alcoholism. The findings suggest that mice lacking Gabrg2 on dopaminergic cells could be used as models for individuals at high risk for developing alcoholism and that GABA(A) receptors on dopamine cells are protective against the development of excessive alcohol drinking.
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| 10. |
- Svensson-Arvelund, Judit, 1982-, et al.
(författare)
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The Human Fetal Placenta Promotes Tolerance against the Semiallogeneic Fetus by Inducing Regulatory T Cells and Homeostatic M2 Macrophages
- 2015
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Ingår i: Journal of Immunology. - : American Association of Immunologists. - 0022-1767 .- 1550-6606. ; 194:4, s. 1534-1544
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- A successful pregnancy requires that the maternal immune system is instructed to a state of tolerance to avoid rejection of the semiallogeneic fetal-placental unit. Although increasing evidence supports that decidual (uterine) macrophages and regulatory T cells (Tregs) are key regulators of fetal tolerance, it is not known how these tolerogenic leukocytes are induced. In this article, we show that the human fetal placenta itself, mainly through trophoblast cells, is able to induce homeostatic M2 macrophages and Tregs. Placental-derived M-CSF and IL-10 induced macrophages that shared the CD14(+)CD163(+)CD206(+)CD209(+) phenotype of decidual macrophages and produced IL-10 and CCL18 but not IL-12 or IL-23. Placental tissue also induced the expansion of CD25(high)CD127(low)Foxp3(+) Tregs in parallel with increased IL-10 production, whereas production of IFN-gamma (Th1), IL-13 (Th2), and IL-17 (Th17) was not induced. Tregs expressed the suppressive markers CTLA-4 and CD39, were functionally suppressive, and were induced, in part, by IL-10, TGF-beta, and TRAIL. Placental-derived factors also limited excessive Th cell activation, as shown by decreased HLA-DR expression and reduced secretion of Th1-, Th2-, and Th17-associated cytokines. Thus, our data indicate that the fetal placenta has a central role in promoting the homeostatic environment necessary for successful pregnancy. These findings have implications for immune-mediated pregnancy complications, as well as for our general understanding of tissue-induced tolerance.
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