International Journal of Molecular Sciences Review Lipopolysaccharide-Induced Neuroinflammation as a Bridge to Understand Neurodegeneration 1, 1, 2 Carla Ribeiro Alvares Batista y , Giovanni Freitas Gomes y, Eduardo Candelario-Jalil , 3, , 1, , Bernd L. Fiebich * y and Antonio Carlos Pinheiro de Oliveira * y 1 Department of Pharmacology, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Av. Antonio Carlos 6627, Belo Horizonte 31270-901, Brazil;
[email protected] (C.R.A.B.);
[email protected] (G.F.G.) 2 Department of Neuroscience, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32610, USA; ecandelario@ufl.edu 3 Neuroimmunology and Neurochemistry Research Group, Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Medical Center–University of Freiburg, Faculty of Medicine, University of Freiburg, D-79104 Freiburg, Germany * Correspondence: bernd.fi
[email protected] (B.L.F.);
[email protected] or
[email protected] (A.C.P.d.O.); Tel.: +49-761-270-68980 (B.L.F.); +55-31-3409-2727 (A.C.P.d.O.); Fax: +49-761-270-69170 (B.L.F.); +55-31-3409-2695 (A.C.P.d.O.) These authors contributed equally to this work. y Received: 4 April 2019; Accepted: 5 May 2019; Published: 9 May 2019 Abstract: A large body of experimental evidence suggests that neuroinflammation is a key pathological event triggering and perpetuating the neurodegenerative process associated with many neurological diseases. Therefore, different stimuli, such as lipopolysaccharide (LPS), are used to model neuroinflammation associated with neurodegeneration. By acting at its receptors, LPS activates various intracellular molecules, which alter the expression of a plethora of inflammatory mediators. These factors, in turn, initiate or contribute to the development of neurodegenerative processes.