Stress, Inflammation, and the Brain

Stressful situations that involve social evaluation and potential rejection activate the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) and anterior insula. Stress can also provoke an inflammatory response. These researchers examined links between neural mechanisms and inflammatory response in healthy volunteers who performed two social-stress tasks.

A social-threat task involved “preparing and delivering an impromptu speech and performing difficult mental arithmetic in front of a nonresponsive, socially rejecting panel of raters.” The researchers measured inflammatory activity (a marker for tumor necrosis factor α [TNF-α] and interleukin-6 [IL-6]) while 124 volunteers performed the tasks. A few weeks later, 31 of the participants underwent functio…