Nautiyal Katherine M, Ribeiro Ana C, Pfaff Donald W, Silver Rae
Department of Psychology, Columbia University, 1190 Amsterdam Avenue, New York, NY 10027, USA.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2008 Nov 18;105(46):18053-7. doi: 10.1073/pnas.0809479105. Epub 2008 Nov 11.
Mast cells are resident in the brain and contain numerous mediators, including neurotransmitters, cytokines, and chemokines, that are released in response to a variety of natural and pharmacological triggers. The number of mast cells in the brain fluctuates with stress and various behavioral and endocrine states. These properties suggest that mast cells are poised to influence neural systems underlying behavior. Using genetic and pharmacological loss-of-function models we performed a behavioral screen for arousal responses including emotionality, locomotor, and sensory components. We found that mast cell deficient Kit(W-sh/W-sh) (sash(-/-)) mice had a greater anxiety-like phenotype than WT and heterozygote littermate control animals in the open field arena and elevated plus maze. Second, we show that blockade of brain, but not peripheral, mast cell activation increased anxiety-like behavior. Taken together, the data implicate brain mast cells in the modulation of anxiety-like behavior and provide evidence for the behavioral importance of neuroimmune links.
肥大细胞存在于大脑中，含有多种介质，包括神经递质、细胞因子和趋化因子，这些介质会在各种自然和药理学触发因素的作用下释放。大脑中肥大细胞的数量会随着压力以及各种行为和内分泌状态而波动。这些特性表明肥大细胞可能会影响行为背后的神经系统。我们使用基因和药理学功能丧失模型，对包括情绪、运动和感觉成分在内的唤醒反应进行了行为筛选。我们发现，肥大细胞缺陷的Kit（W-sh/W-sh）（sash（-/-））小鼠在旷场试验和高架十字迷宫中比野生型和杂合子同窝对照动物表现出更强的焦虑样表型。其次，我们表明，阻断大脑而非外周肥大细胞的激活会增加焦虑样行为。综上所述，这些数据表明大脑肥大细胞参与了焦虑样行为的调节，并为神经免疫联系在行为中的重要性提供了证据。
