Newswise — Alzheimer’s disease, multiple sclerosis, autism, schizophrenia and many other neurological and psychiatric conditions have been linked to inflammation in the brain. There’s growing evidence that immune cells and molecules play a key role in normal brain development and function as well. But at the core of the burgeoning field of neuroimmunology lies a mystery: How does the immune system even know what’s happening in the brain? Generations of students have been taught that the brain is immunoprivileged, meaning the immune system largely steers clear of it.
Now, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis believe they have figured out how the immune system keeps tabs on what’s going on in the brain. Immune cells are stationed in the meninges — the tissue that covers the brain and spinal cord — where they sample fluid as it…
