Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Editorial
. 2018 Dec 16;11(1):3-4.
doi: 10.18632/aging.101704.

Inflammation and neurodegeneration: chronicity matters

Keenan A Walker  1
Affiliations
Editorial

Inflammation and neurodegeneration: chronicity matters

Keenan A Walker. Aging (Albany NY). .
No abstract available

Keywords: Alzheimer’s disease; dementia; inflammation; neurodegeneration; white matter.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
This figure describes the hypothesized relationship between systemic inflammation, neuroinflammation, and neurodegeneration. Inflammatory triggers, such as infection, chronic disease, and cellular aging can occur before or during middle adulthood. These events lead to increased pro-inflammatory signaling within the periphery, which can result in long-term perturbations in the balance between pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory networks. For some, these changes can lead to a state of chronic systemic inflammation that persists into older adulthood. By activating microglia and astrocytes, systemic inflammation can initiate or perpetuate a cytokine- and complement-mediated inflammatory response within the brain (i.e. neuroinflammation). Neuroinflammation has been shown to promote pathogenic brain changes, such as increased amyloid precursor protein processing, beta-amyloid oligomerization, tau phosphorylation, and small vessel disease. IL-1ß = interleukin 1 beta; IL-4 = interleukin 4; IL-6 = interleukin 6; IL-10 = interleukin 10; IL-13 = interleukin 13; TNF-α = tumor necrosis factor alpha.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Franceschi C, Campisi J. J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci. 2014. (Suppl 1); 69:S4–9. 10.1093/gerona/glu057 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Thayer JF, Sternberg EM. Brain Behav Immun. 2010; 24:1223–28. 10.1016/j.bbi.2010.07.247 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Sheng JG, et al. Neurobiol Dis. 2003; 14:133–45. 10.1016/S0969-9961(03)00069-X - DOI - PubMed
    1. Walker KA, et al. Neurobiol Aging. 2018; 68:26–33. 10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2018.03.031 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Walker KA, et al. Neurology. 2017; 89:2262–70. 10.1212/WNL.0000000000004688 - DOI - PMC - PubMed

Publication types