Research In Action 2022

A: Without knowing more than a diagnosis of dysautonomia, it's hard to say. I am not a medical professional, so I would always defer to your doctor for specifics. I do know what dysautonomia is a complex disorder that has a wide range of symptoms. I am unaware of any direct linking of dysfunctions in the immune system to dysautonomia, although the autonomic and immune system have been implicated in other disease development and progression like cardiovascular disease.

A: These tests, the open field and tail suspension, were not developed to only examine serotonin and stress in mice. As researchers, we are constantly trying to find ways to know what is going on in a mouse's brain, since that's what we study. Behavioral tasks like these were developed to try and get a better grasp on a mouse's behavior and feelings in a quantifiable and reproducible manner. The open field test relies on a mouse's tendency to explore new environments, as well as its urge to stay out of big open spaces (since it is a prey animal). Thus, when we put the mouse in an open field box, we get a read out of the mouse's movement and even anxiety behavior, as very anxious mice will rarely enter the middle of the box. The tail suspension test utilizes the fact that having a mouse hang by its tail puts the mouse in a very vulnerable position, so it will try it's best to get out of that position (by swinging and trying to grab on to something). If a mouse is stressed, or sick, it will swing/move less than a normal, healthy mouse. If those stressed or sick mice are given antidepressants, the medication will alleviate some of the symptoms and the mouse will struggle/swing more. Thus, when we put the mouse in a tail suspension test, we say we are getting a read-out of the mouse's depressive-like behavior.

A: The serotonin in your brain is separate from the serotonin in your gut/body. Serotonin made in your gut cannot pass into your brain thanks to the blood brain barrier (and vice versa). However, the same machinery is present in your brain and your gut/body to be able to recognize serotonin and transporter it. Thus, if there are genetic mutations that affect one of these components, that mutation will affect not only your brain, but also the rest of your body, too.

A: I'm unsure of the exact research you are referencing, but for the most part IL-1 is going to be made in response to any vaccine administration - this is the first step in engaging the immune system and then the body can begin to make antibodies against the pathogen to assist with any future infections. There are reports of a few individuals that have displayed hyperinflammation in response to the covid-19 mRNA vaccine and this meant their bodies were producing too much IL-1. This was remedied by treating these individuals with an IL-1 blocker.

A: There is ongoing research onto what might be playing a role in the long-hauler symptoms post Covid-19 infection. When testing for a panel of inflammatory cytokines, studies have found some of them to be increased even after Covid-19 infection. One, called Interferon beta, seems to be unique to the long-hauler symptoms, but many more studies need to be done to be able to understand what is uniquely happening to the immune system of "long-haulers."