Neuroinflammation
A major hallmark of brain diseases is neuroinflammation. We study how immune mediators affect synaptic plasticity. Particularly, our work focuses on better understanding how these factors inflammatory cytokines influence intracellular calcium stores, i.e. the spine apparatus organelle, and how these changes alter the ability of neurons to express associative and homeostatic synaptic plasticity. The concept of neurocoagulation at the neuroimmunological synapse and its relevance for tissue-probe-interactions is an emerging topic in this context.
Selected Publications
Masuda T, Amann L, Sankowski R, Staszewski O, Lenz M, D Errico P, Snaidero N, Costa Jordão MJ, Böttcher C, Kierdorf K, Jung S, Priller J, Misgeld T, Vlachos A, Meyer-Luehmann M, Knobeloch KP, Prinz M (2020) Novel Hexb-based tools for studying microlgia in the CNS. Nat Immunol. 21:802-815.
Lenz M, Vlachos A° (2019) The neuroimmunological synapse: from synaptic homeostasis to brain disease. Neuroforum 163-171.
Lenz M*, Shimon MB*, Benninger F, Neufeld MY, Shavit-Stein E, Vlachos A°, Maggio N° (2019) Systemic thrombin inhibition ameliorates seizures in a mouse model of pilocarpine-induced status epilepticus. J Mol Med. 97, 1567-1574.
Maggio N°, Vlachos A° (2018) Tumor necrosis factor (TNF) modulates synaptic platicity in a concentration-dependent manner through intracellular calcium stores. J Mol Med. 96:1039-1047.
Ben Shimon M*, Lenz M*, Ikenberg B, Becker D, Shavit Stein E, Chapmann J, Tanne D, Pick CG, Blatt I, Neufeld M, Vlachos A*, Maggio N*° (2015) Thrombin regulation of synaptic transmission and plasticity: implications for health and disease. Front Cel Neurosci. 9: 151.
Becker D, Deller T, Vlachos A° (2015) Tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-receptor 1 and 2 mediate homeostatic synaptic plasticity of denervated mouse dentate granule cells. Sci Rep. 5: 12726.
Strehl A, Lenz M, Itsekson-Hayosh Z, Becker D, Chapman J, Deller T, Maggio N, Vlachos A° (2014) Systemic inflammation is associated with a reduction in Synaptopodin expression in the mouse hippocampus. Exp Neurol. 261: 230-235.
Becker D, Zahn D, Deller T, Vlachos A° (2013) Tumor necrosis factor alpha maintains denervation-induced homeostatic synaptic plasticity of mouse dentate granule cells. Front Cell Neurosci. 7: 257.