Graduate Prerequisites: consent of instructor Course Description: Protective immunity is essential for maintaining the homeostasis of body, including the central nervous system and peripheral tissues. It is responsible for fighting against both host and pathogen, through detection of abnormal host condition (such as tumorigenesis, apoptosis, and necrosis) and pathogen invasion (such as microbes and allergic particles). The first responders to these changes are innate immune cells, such as neutrophils, dendritic cells and macrophages in the periphery and microglia and infiltrating myeloid cells in the central nervous system. The common response of innate immune cells is "acute inflammation." Although acute inflammation is a fundamental physiologic response of multicellular organisms to infection and injury, unresolved and chronic inflammation can have significant pathophysiologic consequences, such as gastrointestinal inflammation, neuroinflammation and tumor inflammation. This course examines the cellular components, inflammatory mediators, and their mechanisms of action, and therapeutic modulation of inflammation in the central nervous system and periphery. The format includes lectures on inflammatory components of selected diseases and student-led discussions of review and research papers. 2 cr, Fall sem.

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