March 22, 2024
草莓污视频导航 research finds direct communication path between the lungs and the brain
草莓污视频导航 researchers have discovered the lungs communicate directly with the brain when there is an infection. Findings show the brain plays a critical role in triggering the symptoms of sickness, which may change the way we treat respiratory infections and chronic conditions.
鈥淭he lungs are using the same sensors and neurons in the pain pathway to let the brain know there鈥檚 an infection,鈥 says Dr. Bryan Yipp, MD '05, MSc'05, clinician researcher at the听Cumming School of Medicine听and senior author on the study.听鈥淭he brain prompts the symptoms associated with sickness; that overall feeling of being unwell, feeling tired and losing your appetite. The discovery indicates we may have to treat the nervous system as well as the infection.鈥
Prior to this study, conducted in mice, it was thought infections in the lungs and pneumonia induce inflammatory molecules that eventually made their way to the brain through the bloodstream. Sickness was thought to be a consequence of the immune system kicking into action. However, findings reveal that sickness results from nervous system activation in the lung.听
Understanding the lung-brain dialogue is important for treatment because bacteria that cause lung infections can produce a biofilm, a coating to surround themselves so the nervous system can鈥檛 see them. That allows the bug to hide out in the lungs for a long time, which may shed light across diverse serious lung infections that are less symptomatic. For example, an unexplained anomaly Yipp witnessed in the intensive care unit (ICU) during COVID. The phenomenon, coined 鈥渉appy hypoxia,鈥 was being recorded in ICUs throughout the world.
鈥淲e would have patients whose oxygen levels were extremely low and X-rays confirmed they may need to be put on life support. Yet, when I went to see the patient, they would say I feel fine,鈥 says Yipp. 鈥淭hese people were experiencing limited sickness symptoms even though the virus was aggressively damaging their lungs.鈥澨
Yipp says understanding the lung brain communication pathways may also have broad implications听for people with chronic lung infections like cystic fibrosis (CF). Many people with CF have a biofilm bacterium in their lungs and are asymptomatic. They feel OK, but then have a flare where they can become very ill. The reason for the flare can鈥檛 always be traced.听听
"It is possible the flare is also neurological that these people live asymptomatically because bacteria are hiding out,鈥 says Yipp.
The findings,听, are the work of an interdisciplinary team including experts in neurobiology, microbiology, immunology, and infectious disease.听
鈥淧hysician specialties are usually based on individual organs, with pulmonologists caring for the lungs and neurologists caring for the brain. Our study shows the lung is altering the brain and the brain is altering the organ. This intersection of communication is a different way of thinking about disease,鈥 says Yipp. 鈥淚t鈥檚 all connected to the brain and there are probably even more complex circuits that are happening. We can now think about targeting neurocircuitry along with antibiotics to deal with infections and the sickness they cause.鈥
草莓污视频导航 researchers Drs. Christophe Altier, PhD, Joe Harrison, PhD, and Deborah Kurrasch, PhD, along with Dr. Jaideep Bains, PhD, Krembil Research Institute, Toronto, are corresponding authors on the study.听
The researchers add there was one more unique finding. Male mice were much sicker than the females even though they had the same bacterial infection. Researchers found that male sickness was more dependent on neuronal communications when compared to females. Yipp says this finding could lend credibility to the so-called 鈥渕an flu,鈥 a colloquial term where men are thought to wildly exaggerate sickness due to respiratory infections. Turns out they may not be exaggerating, after all.听 听
The research was supported by Canadian Institutes of Health Research.
Bryan Yipp is an associate professor in the听听at the Cumming School of Medicine (CSM) and a member of the听听at the CSM.听听
Team members represent the Alberta Children鈥檚 Hospital Research Institute, Owerko Centre for Neurodevelopment and Child Mental Health, Calvin, Phoebe and Joan Snyder Institute for Chronic Diseases, and the Hotchkiss Brain Institute at the Cumming School of Medicine.听