Neuro-immune interactions after stroke

The nervous system and the immune system are two integrative systems that work collaboratively to detect threats, provide host defence, restore homeostasis, and their crosstalk is crucial for maintaining the health and well-being of the host. Recent discoveries show that neuro-immune interactions that control inflammation are an ancient component of animal physiology, found in the least complex nematodes and similarly described in higher vertebrates. Immune cells are equipped to respond to neuronal signals by expressing receptors for neuronal cell-derived molecules and, reciprocally, neurons express receptors for immune-derived cytokines and neurotransmitters, which can affect neuronal function. As such, neuro-immune interactions have been shown to be involved in multiple aspects of tissue physiology during homeostasis and pathologies, including haematopoiesis, sepsis, various chronic inflammatory disorders and even stroke. In this presentation, I will outline our group's recent work on the effect of stroke on the peripheral immune system, and describe how a distal injury in the brain can elicit diverse immune cell functional impairments and mucosal barrier breakdown. Detail mapping of the interplay between the nervous and immune systems anatomically and functionally during inflammation will likely reveal important information about the intricate network processes shared between two elaborate, highly co-evolved systems of defence and memory. Using this knowledge, it is possible to target neural pathways with pharmacological agents to resolve inflammation and provide therapeutic benefit. None