Alcohol and the neuroimmune response: Current status and future directions

Abstract

The recent progress in the understanding of the immune response within the CNS and the novel findings that neuroimmune factors such as the cytokines have a role beyond immune response including developmental changes and modulation of behavior add new perspective to interpreting brain function. These advances also invite reexamination of mechanisms involved in brain dysfunction and diseases. This book attempts to bring forth the most recent advances in the neuroimmune field and to summarize the recent findings implicating neuroimmune factors in the response to alcohol and in the modulation of drinking behaviors. This chapter tries to integrate these recent observations linking neuroimmune response and neuroimmune modulators to the mechanisms producing alcoholism and the neuroadaptations responsible for alcohol dependence. Since this area of alcohol research is at its beginning, opportunities for advances are highly likely. The recent findings in neuroimmune research may identify new processes through which alcohol impacts health. Several of the novel neuroimmune findings with potential relevance for future alcohol research are noted here.