Involvement of microglia in circadian system

• Grant number: 15/03245-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: July 01, 2015
• End date: July 31, 2015
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Morphology - Cytology and Cell Biology
• Principal Investigator: Marucia Chacur
• Grantee: Alyne Santana Rosa
• Supervisor: Linda R. Watkins
• Host Institution: Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas (ICB). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: University of Colorado Boulder, United States
• Associated to the scholarship: 14/19262-8 - Evaluation of gabapentin effect in glial cells after chronic muscle injury, BP.IC

Abstract

Inflammations are the cause of several diseases found in the population and are involved in various psychiatric disorders. When an inflammatory process is started, immune cells and immunoactive agents are released in the tissue. Astrocytes and microglia are two different types of glial cells that are activated in the central and peripheral nervous system and play important roles in the development, spread, and maintenance of the inflammatory process and nociception. The circadian system regulates many physiological functions including inflammatory responses. Microglia express intrinsic circadian clock mechanisms and display rhythmic fluctuations in basal inflammatory gene expression as well as inflammatory potential during the day. Psychiatric disorders have the stress as a major predisposing factor and as potential source of elevated inflammation in the brain. The neuroinflammatory "priming" effects of stress are also regulated by microglia. However, the exact mechanisms involved in microglia priming are not well understood. (AU)