Brain Behav Immun. 2011 Jun;25 Suppl 1:S13-20. Epub 2010 Dec 28.
Alcoholism and inflammation: neuroimmunology of behavioral and mood disorders.
Kelley KW, Dantzer R.
Source

Integrative Immunology and Behavior Program, Department of Animal Sciences, College of ACES, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL 61801, USA. kwkelley@illinois.edu
Abstract

Alcohol abuse changes behavior and can induce major mood disorders such as depression. Recent evidence in pre-clinical rodent models and humans now supports the conclusion that the innate immune system is an important physiological link between alcoholism and major depressive disorders. Deficiency of toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4), a protein that has been known to immunologists for 50 years, not only prevents lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced sickness behavior but recently has been demonstrated to induce resistance to chronic alcohol ingestion. Activation of the immune system by acute administration of LPS, a TLR4 agonist, as well as chronic infection with Bacille Calmette-Gu