Discovery of a barrier in the brain against anxiety and depression

(ANSA) - ROME, OCTOBER 22 - Depression and anxiety often accompany those suffering from chronic intestinal diseases, such as ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease, so much so that the scientific community has been in agreement for years in believing that there is a link between the intestine and the brain, the functioning of which, however, has been undefined up to now. On Science, a team of researchers from Humanitas in Milan coordinated by Professor Maria Rescigno, head of the Laboratory of Mucosal and Microbiota Immunology and Professor of General Pathology at Humanitas University, has published the results of the study that opens up new scenarios in the knowledge of functioning of one of the barriers between the bloodstream and the brain, the choroid plexus.

    Precisely in the choroid plexus, explains Rescigno, "the mechanism that blocks the entry into the brain of inflammatory signals originating in the intestine and migrating to other organs thanks to the blood flow has been documented. This phenomenon is associated with an isolation of the brain from the rest of the body. 'organism that is responsible for behavioral alterations, including the onset of anxiety states. This means that these conditions of the central nervous system are part of the disease and not just secondary manifestations ".

    The choroid plexus is a brain structure that normally allows nutrients and immune cells to enter the brain, and filters the cerebrospinal fluid. Its activity as a vascular membrane, able to open and close, like a 'gate', depending on the surrounding scenario was unknown.

    "The study shows that this 'gate' closes in the face of the danger of strong intestinal inflammation to prevent the spread of inflammation to the brain - says microbiologist Sara Carloni - with consequent development of anxiety and depression.

    "The discovery that a vascular barrier of the choroid plexus reorganizes and closes to block the entry of toxic substances produced following an intestinal pathology is of great interest", underlines Simona Lodato, head of the Humanitas Neurodevelopment Laboratory.

(HANDLE).