A01 A02 A03 A04 A05 A06 A07 A09 A10 A11 A12 A13 A14 A18 A19 A21 F01 F02 INF Ö

A12 –The impact of chronic inflammation on fear extinction

Harald Engler, Sigrid Elsenbruch

Systemic inflammation interferes with learning and memory processes and may contribute to the pathophysiology of chronic pain by impairing the extinction of pain-related fear. This project aims to analyze the effects of acute and chronic inflammation on different aspects of extinction learning. We will test in healthy volunteers if acute inflammation, experimentally induced by intravenous administration of endotoxin, impairs extinction and facilitates reinstatement of conditioned pain-related fear. Effects of chronic inflammation on extinction learning will be addressed in patients with chronic inflammatory bowel disease.

Guiding questions of A12:

  • Does inflammation result in enhanced acquisition of pain-related fear?
  • Does inflammation impair extinction learning and facilitate the reinstatement of pain-related fear?
  • Are the effects of inflammation on excitatory and inhibitory learning specific to pain and what are the neural correlates?
  • Is extinction learning impaired in patients with inflammatory bowel disease?

Harald Engler

Projektleiter A12

Universität Duisburg-Essen

Sigrid Elsenbruch

Projektleiterin A10, A12

Ruhr-Universität Bochum

Franziska Labrenz

Postdoc A10, A12

Ruhr-Universität Bochum / Universität Duisburg-Essen

Hanna Öhlmann

Postdoc A12

Ruhr-Universität Bochum

Lena Nonnweiler

Doktorandin A12

Universität Duisburg-Essen

10 project-relevant publications

Benson S, Siebert C, Koenen LR, Engler H, Kleine-Borgmann J, Bingel U, Icenhour A, Elsenbruch S (2019) Cortisol affects pain sensitivity and pain-related emotional learning in experimental visceral but not somatic pain: a randomized controlled study in healthy men and women. Pain 160: 1719-1228. https://doi.org/10.1097/j.pain.0000000000001579

Benson S, Rebernik L, Pastoors D, Brinkhoff A, Wegner A, Elsenbruch S, Engler H (2020) Impact of acute inflammation on the extinction of aversive gut memories. Brain Behav Immun. 88: 294-301. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbi.2020.06.009

Engler H, Brinkhoff A, Wilde B, Kribben A, Rohn H, Witzke O, Schedlowski M, Benson S (2023) Endotoxin-induced physiological and psychological sickness responses in healthy humans: insights into the post-acute phase. Neuroimmunomodulation. 30: 268-276. https://doi.org/10.1159/000534444

Koenen LR, Pawlik RJ, Icenhour A, Petrakova L, Forkmann K, Theysohn N, Engler H, Elsenbruch S (2021) Associative learning and extinction of conditioned threat predictors across sensory modalities. Commun Biol. 4: 553. https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-021-02008-1

Labanski A, Langhorst J, Engler H, Elsenbruch S (2020) Stress and the brain-gut axis in functional and chronicinflammatory gastrointestinal diseases: A transdisciplinary challenge. Psychoneuroendocrinology. 111: 104501. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psyneuen.2019.104501

Lanters LR, Öhlmann H, Langhorst J, Theysohn N, Engler H, Icenhour A, Elsenbruch S (2024) Disease-specific alterations in central fear network engagement during acquisition and extinction of conditioned interoceptive fear in inflammatory bowel disease. Mol Psychiatry. 29: 3527-3536. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41380-024-02612-7

Öhlmann H, Koenen LR, Labrenz F, Engler H, Theysohn N, Langhorst J, Elsenbruch S (2021) Altered brain structure in chronic visceral pain: specific differences in gray matter volume and associations with visceral symptoms and chronic stress. Front Neurol. 12: 733035. https://doi.org/10.3389/fneur.2021.733035

Öhlmann H, Lanters LR, Theysohn N, Langhorst J, Engler H, Icenhour A, Elsenbruch S (2023). Distinct alterations in central pain processing of visceral and somatic pain in quiescent ulcerative colitis compared to irritable bowel syndrome and health. J Crohns Colitis. 17: 1639-1651. https://doi.org/10.1093/ecco-jcc/jjad080

Pawlik RJ, Petrakova L, Cueillette A, Krawczyk K, Theysohn N, Elsenbruch S, Engler H (2023) inflammation shapes neural processing of interoceptive fear predictors during extinction learning in healthy humans. Brain Behav Immun. 108: 328-339. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbi.2022.12.010

Schmidt K, Schlitt F, Wiech K, Merz CJ, Kleine-Borgmann J, Wolf OT, Engler H, Forkmann K, Elsenbruch S, Bingel U (2024) Hydrocortisone differentially affects reinstatement of pain-related responses in patients with chronic back pain and healthy volunteers. J Pain. 25: 1082-1093. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpain.2023.10.028