Neuroinflammation is a defence mechanism that brings into play our body’s crucial nervous and immune systems.
It is activated in response to infection and other aggressive factors, making it a key mechanism underlying different physiological and pathological conditions. When neuroinflammation gets out of control, it no longer performs a protective function but becomes an effector of damage
Learning to modulate it provides a new way of protecting and restoring human (and also animal) health.
Nerve sprouting mediated by the Nerve Growth Factor
Original drawing by Rita Levi Montalcini,
Rio de Janeiro, 20 December 1952
Dedicated to Francesco della Valle, 22 July 1991
Private collection Francesco della Valle Foundation
Reproduction prohibited
From neurodegeneration to neuroinflammation: the evolution of neuroscience
The “neuronocentric” outlook, focusing exclusively on the neuron and the degenerative processes that can affect it, has gradually evolved in recent years. Glial cells, once thought of as merely a supporting glue between neurons, are now recognised as central participants in brain function with functional roles that go well beyond structural purposes and that are absolutely crucial both for maintaining central nervous system homeostasis and the pathogenesis of dysfunctional processes.
As a result, neurodegenerationis increasingly considered in terms of neuroinflammation.
Pain in the third millennium: more than just neurons
According to the definition adopted by the IASP (International Association for the Study of Pain – 2020) and the World Health Organization, pain is “an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage, or described in terms of such damage”.
Although, on the one hand, neurons are the undisputed protagonists of such an unpleasant experience, on the other it is increasingly obvious that their sensitivity is influenced by other “non-neuronal” cells, first and foremost the microglia.
Modulating these interactions therefore opens new scenarios for intervening effectively on pain, particularly pain of a chronic nature (for instance that associated with osteoarthritis), but also visceral pain caused by cystitis or endometriosis, the purely neuropathic pain typical of diabetic neuropathy, as well as the widespread pain that characterises algo-dysfunctional syndromes, such as fibromyalgia.
