The Why Files
017_The Neuronal Nuisance of Inflammation
Neurons that innervate muscles associated with breathing are essential for life, but can be negatively influenced by sickness or inflammation. This immunohistochemical confocal image at 100X magnification depicts a rat spinal cord cross section showing a few of these neurons (in blue), along with microglia (in red, the main immune cells in the central nervous system preventing infection and disease) and an enzyme involved in the response to inflammation, p38 MAPK (in green). Here, we show that rats treated with repetitive low oxygen episodes during the night (similar to episodes experienced by people with sleep apnea) had high expression of p38 MAPK protein. This suggests p38 MAPK may be a key molecule in undermining breathing after multiple low oxygen episodes and initiation of inflammation in the central nervous system.
Tim Peterson, undergraduate student, Dr. Adrianne Huxtable, postdoc, and Dr. Gordon Mitchell, professor
Comparative Biosciences
017_The Neuronal Nuisance of Inflammation
Neurons that innervate muscles associated with breathing are essential for life, but can be negatively influenced by sickness or inflammation. This immunohistochemical confocal image at 100X magnification depicts a rat spinal cord cross section showing a few of these neurons (in blue), along with microglia (in red, the main immune cells in the central nervous system preventing infection and disease) and an enzyme involved in the response to inflammation, p38 MAPK (in green). Here, we show that rats treated with repetitive low oxygen episodes during the night (similar to episodes experienced by people with sleep apnea) had high expression of p38 MAPK protein. This suggests p38 MAPK may be a key molecule in undermining breathing after multiple low oxygen episodes and initiation of inflammation in the central nervous system.
Tim Peterson, undergraduate student, Dr. Adrianne Huxtable, postdoc, and Dr. Gordon Mitchell, professor
Comparative Biosciences