Ischemic, traumatic and neurodegenerative brain inflammatory changes

This review serves to link the role of the immune system in the neuropathology of acute ischemic stroke, traumatic brain injury and neurodegenerative disease. The blood-brain barrier delineates the CNS from the peripheral immune system. However, the blood-cerebrospinal fluid barrier acts as a gate between the periphery and the brain, permitting immune activity crosstalk and modulation. In acute ischemic stroke, traumatic brain injury and other neurodegenerative diseases, the blood-brain barrier is compromised and an influx of inflammatory cells and plasma proteins occurs, resulting in edema, demyelination, cell dysfunction and death, and neurobehavioral changes. The role of the complement system, key cytokines, microglia and other neuroglia in brain degenerative pathology will be discussed.