IUBio

Cytokines

Mr N.C. Eastmond nce at liverpool.ac.uk
Thu Apr 25 02:18:05 EST 1996


: Look under "psychneuroimmunology".  There are vascular "plexus" located
: in the circumventricular areas at which the BBB is thought to be less
: selective.  There is some evidence of active transport by vascular
: endothelium in the case of IL-1; I'm not sure about IL-6.  Or, IL-6
: may cause the vascular endothelium in the brain to release secondary
: mediators, like prostaglandins, which do cross the BBB.  There is a book
: called "Psychoneuroimmunology" (I think) edited by Robert Ader and Nicholas
: Cohen (I think) which reviews the whole area.  There are a lot of current
: research and review articles in this.  Try searching MEDLINE for blood 
: brain barrier in combination with IL-6, IL-1, and TNF-alpha.

I have a tiny problem with this. IL-1, in my opinion does not cross the BBB.
Radiolabelled IL-1 injected into the periphery does not turn up in the CSF,
no matter how many times you try it. In addition, I can't think of any evi-
dence for PG's corssing it either (although it is perfectly reasonable to
suggest that they might). This problem has been the number 1 hotbed of debate
in the field of the pathogenesis of fever for the past 10 years. How do the 
immune events in fever transmit to the PO/AH? It does seem to me that every
time there is a problem concerning the BBB, people latch onto the OVLT as
the answer. It may well be that this is the case, but I would hesitate to
state it as fact at the present time.

Dr. Nigel C. Eastmond               | Email  nce at liv.ac.uk
Dept. Pharmacology and Therapeutics | Tel.   +44 (0)151 794 5541
University of Liverpool             | Fax.   +44 (0)151 794 5540
Liverpool L69 3BX                   | Mobile 0468 453892



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