Inflammation (Latin, īnflammō, "I ignite, set alight") is part of the complex biological response of vascular tissues to harmful stimuli, such as pathogens, damaged cells, or irritants.The classical signs of acute inflammation are pain, heat, redness, swelling, and loss of function. Inflammation is a protective attempt by the organism to remove the injurious stimuli and to then initiate the healing process.
However inflammation is an over arching global term that means different things to different people.
How can we say that inflammation is important in progressive MS and inflammation in Relapsing MS are important when the anti-inflammatries work in Relapsing MS and not in Progressive MS?
This is because we are talking abut different types of inflammatory response.
How can we say that inflammation is important in progressive MS and inflammation in Relapsing MS are important when the anti-inflammatries work in Relapsing MS and not in Progressive MS?
This is because we are talking abut different types of inflammatory response.
Wikipaedia splits inflammation into acute and chronic and as you can see they mean different things.
Acute | Chronic | |
---|---|---|
Causative agent | Bacterial pathogens, injured tissues | Persistent acute inflammation due to non-degradable pathogens, viral infection, persistent foreign bodies, or autoimmune reactions |
Major cells involved | neutrophils (primarily), basophils (inflammatory response), and eosinophils (response to helminth worms and parasites), mononuclear cells (monocytes, macrophages) | Mononuclear cells (monocytes, macrophages, lymphocytes, plasma cells), fibroblasts |
Primary mediators | Vasoactive amines, eicosanoids (prostaglandins/leucotrienes | IFN-γ and other cytokines, growth factors, reactive oxygen species, hydrolytic enzymes |
Onset | Immediate | Delayed |
Duration | Few days | Up to many months, or years |
Outcomes | Resolution, abscess formation, chronic inflammation | Tissue destruction, fibrosis, necrosis |
However, to confuse things further chronic inflammation has different types involving different cell types and different mediators so without any clarification of what the definition of inflammation is you can easily get confused.
Some people think that T and B and monocytes-macrophages in the blood are important for RRMS, whereas the tissue macrophage-microglia may be more important for progression than T and B cells). They are both called inflammation. The way to treat the former is not the same way as to treat the later. However both are involved in disease process and Ideally need to be dealt with