NEUROBEHAVIORAL ALTERATIONS IN AUTOIMMUNE MICE

Inbred MRL, NZB and BXSB strains of mice spontaneously develop a syste mic, lupus-like autoimmune disease. The progress of autoimmunity is ac companied with a cascade of behavioral changes, most consistently obse rved in tasks reflective of emotional reactivity and the two-way avoid ance learning task. Given the possibility that behavioral alterations may reflect a detrimental consequence of autoimmune-inflammatory proce sses and/or an adaptive response to chronic malaise, they are tentativ ely labeled as autoimmunity-associated behavioral syndrome (AABS). It is hypothesized that neuroactive immune factors (proinflammatory cytok ines, brain-reactive antibodies) together with endocrine mediators (co rticotropin-releasing factor, glucocorticoids) participate in the etio logy of AABS. Since AABS develops natively, and has a considerable fac e and predictive validity, and since the principal pathway to autoimmu nity is known, AABS may be a useful model for the study of CNS involve ment in human autoimmune diseases and by extension, for testing autoim mune hypotheses of several mental disorders (major depression, schizop hrenia, Alzheimer's disease, autism and AIDS-related dementia). (C) 19 97 Elsevier Science Ltd.