Publications by authors named "Maria Erta"
Article Synopsis
- Interleukin-6 (IL-6) is a key cytokine involved in the immune system and connects the nervous and endocrine systems, produced by various cells in the central nervous system (CNS).
- A study on mice with astrocytic IL-6 deficiency (Ast-IL-6 KO) in a model of multiple sclerosis (EAE) showed that, despite no major changes in disease symptoms, there was a delay in clinical signs and reduced inflammation in females.
- The findings indicate that IL-6 secreted by astrocytes plays a significant role in the disease's progression, particularly in female subjects.
Article Synopsis
- * Findings show that astrocytic IL-6 has significant prosurvival benefits in young mice and influences various behaviors including activity, anxiety, and spatial learning, while also hinting at potential inhibitory effects on learning consolidation.
- * The research highlights that the influence of astrocytic IL-6 varies based on age and sex, suggesting that both astrocytes and other brain cells contribute to behavioral regulation without significantly affecting the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis.
Article Synopsis
- IL-6 is linked to various neuroinflammatory and neurodegenerative disorders in the central nervous system (CNS), signaling through classic and trans-signaling pathways which involve different receptors.
- The study created bigenic mice that produced IL-6 specifically in astrocytes and also produced a blocker for the IL-6 trans-signaling, revealing that blocking this pathway reduced inflammatory markers and improved neurogenesis effects in the brain.
- Results showed that inhibiting trans-signaling helps mitigate harmful effects of IL-6 in the CNS by reducing inflammation, neurodegeneration, and enabling better cellular communication.
Interleukin (IL)-6 is crucial for the induction of many murine models of autoimmunity including experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE), an animal model of multiple sclerosis. While IL-6-deficient mice (IL-6 KO) are resistant to EAE, we showed previously that in transgenic mice with astrocyte-targeted production of IL-6-restricted to the cerebellum (GFAP-IL6), EAE induced with MOG(35-55) was redirected away from the spinal cord to the cerebellum. To further establish the importance of IL-6 produced in the central nervous system, we have generated mice producing IL-6 essentially only in the brain by crossing the GFAP-IL6 mice with IL-6 KO mice.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInterleukin-6 (IL-6) is a cytokine originally identified almost 30 years ago as a B-cell differentiation factor, capable of inducing the maturation of B cells into antibody-producing cells. As with many other cytokines, it was soon realized that IL-6 was not a factor only involved in the immune response, but with many critical roles in major physiological systems including the nervous system. IL-6 is now known to participate in neurogenesis (influencing both neurons and glial cells), and in the response of mature neurons and glial cells in normal conditions and following a wide arrange of injury models.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInterleukin-6 (IL-6) is a major cytokine which controls not only the immune system but also exhibits many other functions including effects in the central nervous system (CNS). IL-6 is known to be produced by different cells in the CNS, and all the major CNS do respond to IL-6, which makes it difficult to dissect the specific roles of each cell type when assessing the role of IL-6 in the brain. We have produced for the first time floxed mice for IL-6 and have crossed them with GFAP-Cre mice to delete IL-6 in astrocytes (Ast-IL-6 KO mice), and have compared their phenotype with that of mice with deletion of IL-6 receptor in astrocytes (Ast-IL6R KO mice).
View Article and Find Full Text PDF