Henriques Joana F, Portugal Camila C, Canedo Teresa, Relvas João B, Summavielle Teresa, Socodato Renato
Addiction Biology, Instituto de Investigação e Inovação em Saúde and Instituto de Biologia Molecular e Celular, Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal.
Glial Cell Biology, Instituto de Investigação e Inovação em Saúde and Instituto de Biologia Molecular e Celular, The Discoveries Centre for Regeneration and Precision Medicine - Porto campus, Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal.
Toxicol Lett. 2018 Feb;283:21-31. doi: 10.1016/j.toxlet.2017.11.002. Epub 2017 Nov 10.
Alcohol use disorders affect millions of people worldwide causing huge social and economic burden on modern society. Excessive alcohol consumption or intoxication provokes severe damage to the body inducing immune suppression, liver damage and neurological disorder. In the central nervous system (CNS), alcohol exposure can lead to neuronal loss, cognitive decline, motor dysfunction, inflammation and impairment of neuroimmune responses. Glial cells, from which microglia represent roughly 10-15%, are primary modulators of the neuroimmune responses and inflammation in the CNS. Here we overview literature relating alcohol exposure with microglia activation and brain inflammation, highlighting that microglia are critical regulators of alcohol responses in the CNS. Different studies indicate that alcohol intake alters the microglial activation spectrum, with the microglial response varying according to the dose, duration, and pattern of alcohol administration. Presently, further investigation is required to establish whether microglia dysfunction initiates or simply amplifies the neurotoxicity of alcohol in the brain. Such knowledge can be greatly facilitated by the use of microglia-specific genetic targeting in animal models and will be critical for the development of better therapeutics for mitigating the neurotoxicity induced by alcohol.
酒精使用障碍影响着全球数百万人，给现代社会带来了巨大的社会和经济负担。过量饮酒或醉酒会对身体造成严重损害，导致免疫抑制、肝脏损伤和神经紊乱。在中枢神经系统（CNS）中，接触酒精会导致神经元丧失、认知能力下降、运动功能障碍、炎症以及神经免疫反应受损。神经胶质细胞是中枢神经系统神经免疫反应和炎症的主要调节因子，其中小胶质细胞约占10%-15%。在此，我们概述了有关酒精接触与小胶质细胞活化及脑部炎症的文献，强调小胶质细胞是中枢神经系统中酒精反应的关键调节因子。不同研究表明，饮酒会改变小胶质细胞的活化谱，小胶质细胞的反应会因酒精摄入的剂量、持续时间和方式而异。目前，需要进一步研究以确定小胶质细胞功能障碍是引发还是仅仅放大了酒精在大脑中的神经毒性。在动物模型中使用小胶质细胞特异性基因靶向技术将极大地推动此类研究，这对于开发更好的疗法以减轻酒精诱导的神经毒性至关重要。
