Increasing evidence indicates that the brain regulates peripheral immunity, yet whether and how the brain represents the state of the immune system remains unclear. Here, we show that the brain’s insular cortex (InsCtx) stores immune-related information. Using activity-dependent cell labeling in mice (Fos^TRAP), we captured neuronal ensembles in the InsCtx that were active under two different inflammatory conditions (dextran sulfate sodium [DSS]-induced colitis and zymosan-induced peritonitis). Chemogenetic reactivation of these neuronal ensembles was sufficient to broadly retrieve the inflammatory state under which these neurons were captured. Thus, we show that the brain can store and retrieve specific immune responses, extending the classical concept of immunological memory to neuronal representations of inflammatory information.

越来越多的证据表明，大脑调节外周免疫，但大脑是否以及如何代表免疫系统的状态仍不清楚。在这里，我们展示了大脑的岛叶皮层 (InsCtx) 存储与免疫相关的信息。在小鼠中使用活动依赖性细胞标记 ( Fos ^TRAP )，我们在 InsCtx 中捕获了在两种不同炎症条件下活跃的神经元集合（硫酸葡聚糖钠 [DSS] 诱导的结肠炎和酵母聚糖诱导的腹膜炎）。这些神经元集合的化学遗传学再激活足以广泛地恢复捕获这些神经元的炎症状态。因此，我们表明大脑可以存储和检索特定的免疫反应，将免疫记忆的经典概念扩展到炎症信息的神经元表示。