The role of the immune system in central nervous system plasticity after acute injury.
Acute brain injuries cause rapid cell death that activates bidirectional crosstalk between the injured brain and the immune system. In the acute phase, the damaged CNS activates resident and circulating immune cells via the local and systemic release of soluble mediators. This early immune activation is necessary to confine the injured tissue and foster the clearance of cellular debris, thus bringing the inflammatory reaction to a close. In the chronic phase, a sustained immune activation has been described in many CNS disorders, and the degree of this prolonged response has variable effects on spontaneous brain regenerative processes. The challenge for treating acute CNS damage is to understand how to optimally engage and modify these immune responses, thus providing new strategies that will compensate for tissue lost to injury. Herein we have reviewed the available information regarding the role and function of the innate and adaptive immune responses in influencing CNS plasticity during the acute and chronic phases of after injury. We have examined how CNS damage evolves along the activation of main cellular and molecular pathways that are associated with intrinsic repair, neuronal functional plasticity and facilitation of tissue reorganization.
John van Geest Centre for Brain Repair, Dept of Clinical Neurosciences.
Luca
L
Peruzzotti-Jametti
John van Geest Centre for Brain Repair, Dept of Clinical Neurosciences.
Matteo
M
Donegá
John van Geest Centre for Brain Repair, Dept of Clinical Neurosciences.
Elena
E
Giusto
John van Geest Centre for Brain Repair, Dept of Clinical Neurosciences.|Department of Brain and Behavioural sciences, National Neurological Institute C. Mondino, 27100 Pavia, Italy.
Giulia
G
Mallucci
Department of Clinical and Molecular Biomedicine, Pharmacology Section, Medical School, University of Catania, 95125 Catania, Italy.|OASI Institute for Research and Care on Mental Retardation and Brain Aging, Neuropharmacology Section, 94018 Troina, Italy.
Bianca
B
Marchetti
John van Geest Centre for Brain Repair, Dept of Clinical Neurosciences.|NIHR Biomedical Research Centre.|Wellcome Trust-Medical Research Council Stem Cell Institute, University of Cambridge, CB2 0PY, UK.
Stefano
S
Pluchino
D000818:Animals; D002493:Central Nervous System Diseases / Q000276:immunology / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D006801:Humans; D007107:Immune System / Q000502:physiology*; D009416:Nerve Regeneration / Q000502:physiology; D009473:Neuronal Plasticity / Q000502:physiology*
CNS plasticity; immune system; spinal cord injury; stroke