Monitoring the process of body-to-brain inflammation using bioimaging technology

Research Summary

In clinical studies, it has been reported that the incidence of depression in patients with inflammatory diseases is high, but due to technical limitations, it is unclear how inflammation in the body causes depression.

In this study, we monitored the body-to brain inflammational transition with a newly developed inflmmation sensor in mice, and the behavior of animals was analyzed during this process.

During early phase, mice’s movement became dull due to In the body inflammation, but when the inflammation spreads to the brain during late phase, it showed depressive behavior, indicating that various diseases occur depending on the location of inflammation.

Expected Outcomes

These results provide a new understanding of the neurobiological relationship between depression and systemic inflammation, such as induced by COVID-19 infection and aslo give important clues in the diagnosis and treatment of inflammatory depression.

Related Figures

• [Figure1] IVIS200 and
  inflammation sensor
• [Figure2] Time-dependent inflammation and
  animal behavior analysis