Cited by 381Tryptophan and brain disordersNeuroinflammation and Neurodegeneration MechanismsStress Responses and Cortisol

Peripheral inflammation is associated with altered substantia nigra activity and psychomotor slowing in humans

Open access
Brydon, Lena, Harrison, Neil A., Walker, Cicely, Steptoe, Andrew, Critchley, Hugo D.·2008·Biological Psychiatry

Abstract

BackgroundSystemic infections commonly cause sickness symptoms including psychomotor retardation. Inflammatory cytokines released during the innate immune response are implicated in the communication of peripheral inflammatory signals to the brain.MethodsWe used functional magnetic resonance brain imaging (fMRI) to investigate neural effects of peripheral inflammation following typhoid vaccination in 16 healthy men, using a double-blind, randomized, crossover-controlled design.ResultsVaccination had no global effect on neurovascular coupling but markedly perturbed neural reactivity within substantia nigra during low-level visual stimulation. During a cognitive task, individuals in whom typhoid vaccination engendered higher levels of circulating interleukin-6 had significantly slower reaction time responses. Prolonged reaction times and larger interleukin-6 responses were associated with evoked neural activity within substantia nigra.ConclusionsOur findings provide mechanistic insights into the interaction between inflammation and neurocognitive performance, specifically implicating circulating cytokines and midbrain dopaminergic nuclei in mediating the psychomotor consequences of systemic infection. Systemic infections commonly cause sickness symptoms including psychomotor retardation. Inflammatory cytokines released during the innate immune response are implicated in the communication of peripheral inflammatory signals to the brain. We used functional magnetic resonance brain imaging (fMRI) to investigate neural effects of peripheral inflammation following typhoid vaccination in 16 healthy men, using a double-blind, randomized, crossover-controlled design. Vaccination had no global effect on neurovascular coupling but markedly perturbed neural reactivity within substantia nigra during low-level visual stimulation. During a cognitive task, individuals in whom typhoid vaccination engendered higher levels of circulating interleukin-6 had significantly slower reaction time responses. Prolonged reaction times and larger interleukin-6 responses were associated with evoked neural activity within substantia nigra. Our findings provide mechanistic insights into the interaction between inflammation and neurocognitive performance, specifically implicating circulating cytokines and midbrain dopaminergic nuclei in mediating the psychomotor consequences of systemic infection.

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1016/j.biopsych.2007.12.007

Cites

45 of 45 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

3 of the 48 references couldn’t be matched to a known paper.

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Brydon, L., Harrison, N. A., Walker, C., Steptoe, A., & Critchley, H. D.
Affiliations
  • UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology (GB)
  • Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging (GB)
  • Brighton and Sussex Medical School (GB)
Corresponding author
Brydon, Lena
Venue
Biological Psychiatry
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2008-06
Volume
63
Issue
11
Pages
1022-1029
ISSN
0006-3223 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W2059416963
Cited by
381
References
48
Citations by year
2026: 5 · 2025: 20 · 2024: 23 · 2023: 22 · 2022: 16 · 2021: 41 · 2020: 25 · 2019: 20 · 2018: 26 · 2017: 15 · 2016: 35 · 2015: 26 · 2014: 17 · 2013: 19 · 2012: 25
FWCI
5.12
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Biological Psychiatry (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Sussex Research Online (University of Sussex) (submittedVersion)
  • UCL Discovery (University College London) (submittedVersion)
  • Figshare (submittedVersion, cc-by)
  • ORCA Online Research @Cardiff (Cardiff University) (submittedVersion)
Funders
  • Wellcome Trust
  • British Heart Foundation
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Biological Psychiatry › Tryptophan and brain disorders
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Neurology › Neuroinflammation and Neurodegeneration Mechanisms
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Behavioral Neuroscience › Stress Responses and Cortisol
Keywords
peripheral inflammation, substantia nigra, psychomotor retardation, typhoid vaccination, interleukin-6, sickness behavior, neuroinflammation, dopaminergic midbrain, reaction time, neurovascular coupling, systemic infection, cytokines
MeSH terms
Adolescent, Adult, Brain Mapping, Double-Blind Method, Humans, Image Processing, Computer-Assisted, Inflammation, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Male, Neuropsychological Tests, Oxygen, Photic Stimulation, Psychomotor Performance, Reaction Time, Substantia Nigra, Typhoid Fever, Vaccination, Interleukin-6, Cross-Over Studies, Motor Skills Disorders

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review