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Amygdaloid Signature of Peripheral Immune Activation by Bacterial Lipopolysaccharide or Staphylococcal Enterotoxin B

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Abstract

Activated immune cells produce soluble mediators that not only coordinate local and systemic immune responses but also act on the brain to initiate behavioral, neuroendocrine and metabolic adaptations. Earlier studies have shown that the amygdala, a group of nuclei located in the medial temporal lobe, is engaged in the central processing of afferent signals from the peripheral immune system. Here, we compared amygdaloid responses to lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and staphylococcal enterotoxin B (SEB), two prototypic bacterial products that elicit distinct immune responses. Intraperitoneal administration of LPS (0.1 mg/kg) or SEB (1 mg/kg) in adult rats induced substantial increases in amygdaloid neuronal activity as measured by intracerebral electroencephalography and c-fos gene expression. Amygdaloid neuronal activation was accompanied by an increase in anxiety-related behavior in the elevated plus-maze test. However, only treatment with LPS, but not SEB, enhanced amygdaloid IL-1β and TNF-α mRNA expression. This supports the view of the immune system as a sensory organ that recognizes invading pathogens and rapidly relays this information to the brain, independent of the nature of the immune response induced. The observation that neuronal and behavioral responses to peripheral immune challenges are not necessarily accompanied by increased brain cytokine expression suggests that cytokines are not the only factors driving sickness-related responses in the CNS.

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank Alexandra Kornowski for excellent technical assistance. This work was supported by grants from the Dr. Donald C. Cooper Fund (to H.E. and G.P.) and the German Research Foundation (SCHE 341/13-1, SCHE 341/19-1, KR 3614/2-1).

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Medical Psychology and Behavioral Immunobiology, University Hospital Essen, University of Duisburg-Essen, Hufelandstrasse 55, 45122, Essen, Germany

    Geraldine Prager, Martin Hadamitzky, Andrea Engler, Timo Wirth, Manfred Schedlowski & Harald Engler

  2. Laboratory of Psychology and Behavioral Immunobiology, Institute for Behavioral Sciences, ETH Zurich, 8092, Zurich, Switzerland

    Raphael Doenlen & Gustavo Pacheco-López

  3. Rudolf-Boehm-Institute of Pharmacology and Toxicology, University of Leipzig, 04107, Leipzig, Germany

    Ute Krügel

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  1. Geraldine Prager
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  2. Martin Hadamitzky
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  3. Andrea Engler
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  4. Raphael Doenlen
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  5. Timo Wirth
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  8. Manfred Schedlowski
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  9. Harald Engler
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Correspondence to Harald Engler.

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Prager, G., Hadamitzky, M., Engler, A. et al. Amygdaloid Signature of Peripheral Immune Activation by Bacterial Lipopolysaccharide or Staphylococcal Enterotoxin B. J Neuroimmune Pharmacol 8, 42–50 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11481-012-9373-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11481-012-9373-0

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