School of Psychology, University of Ulster, Coleraine, Northern Ireland, UK.
Psychoneuroendocrinology. 2013 Oct;38(10):2196-208. doi: 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2013.04.007. Epub 2013 May 10.
Elevated concentrations of the pro-inflammatory cytokines IL-1β and IL-6 have been associated with impaired cognitive performance. There are, however, few studies that have examined the relationship between cytokine production and specific aspects of cognition in healthy older individuals. Two-colour flow cytometry was used to determine intracellular cytokine production by activated monocytes, and neuropsychological tests were performed using the Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery (CANTAB) in 93 apparently healthy men and women aged 55-70 years. A series of hierarchical regression analyses was carried out to examine the contribution of IL-1β and IL-6 (% expression and production (antibody binding capacity (ABC))) to recognition, attention and working memory, after controlling for socio-demographic variables (age, sex and social class). IL-1β% expression and IL-6 production predicted aspects of working memory. Recognition memory was found to be sensitive to the affects of age and social class. The current study suggests that higher intracellular cytokine production by activated monocytes may be predictive of lower cognitive performance in working memory in healthy older individuals. These findings indicate that utilization of models for in vivo cytokine production upon immune challenge may be useful in studying specific aspects of memory affected during inflammatory responses, for example in individuals at risk for cognitive decline owing to age-related inflammatory disorders.
促炎细胞因子白细胞介素-1β（IL-1β）和白细胞介素-6（IL-6）浓度升高与认知功能受损有关。然而，很少有研究检查细胞因子产生与健康老年人特定认知方面之间的关系。使用双色流式细胞术测定激活单核细胞中的细胞内细胞因子产生，并用剑桥神经心理学测试自动化电池（CANTAB）对 93 名年龄在 55-70 岁的明显健康男性和女性进行神经心理学测试。进行了一系列层次回归分析，以在控制社会人口统计学变量（年龄、性别和社会阶层）后，检查 IL-1β和 IL-6（%表达和产生（抗体结合能力（ABC）））对识别、注意力和工作记忆的贡献。IL-1β%表达和 IL-6 产生预测了工作记忆的各个方面。发现识别记忆对年龄和社会阶层的影响敏感。本研究表明，激活单核细胞中更高的细胞内细胞因子产生可能预示着健康老年人在工作记忆中认知表现较低。这些发现表明，利用免疫挑战时体内细胞因子产生模型可能有助于研究炎症反应期间受影响的特定记忆方面，例如在因年龄相关炎症性疾病而面临认知能力下降风险的个体中。
