# Encoding of inflammatory mediators by vagal sensory neurons

> **NIH NIH R01** · FEINSTEIN INSTITUTE FOR MEDICAL RESEARCH · 2021 · $335,000

## Abstract

Project Summary
The nervous system and immune system communicate with each other to respond to infections
and maintain immune homeostasis. Work over the last two decades has shown that the vagus
nerve is a critical pathway for neuro-immune communication carrying motor signals descending
to the body, in addition to sensory signals ascending to the brain. These pathways comprise the
two arcs in the neuro-immune reflex circuit termed the inflammatory reflex, in which neural activity
on the vagus nerve regulates cytokine production in the spleen. While the functional and
molecular mechanisms of the descending motor pathway to the spleen are well-established in
this reflex, it is unclear how vagal sensory neurons detect and represent information about
inflammation in situ. This unknown mechanism is a critical piece of the ascending sensory arc of
the inflammatory reflex. Therefore, the goal of the proposed studies is to use large-scale calcium
imaging to discover how vagal sensory neurons encode and represent information about specific
inflammatory mediators. By monitoring vagal sensory neurons while they are presented with
inflammatory mediators of the innate immune response (e.g. pro- and anti-inflammatory
cytokines, DAMPs, PAMPs), we aim to uncover a neural code both at the population-level and at
the level of individual sensory neurons. This new understanding will provide crucial mechanistic
insights into the nervous system representation of immune signals as a general principle, which
can be used to understand what goes wrong in a host of inflammatory disorders that involve
immune dysregulation.
 With a team of experienced scientists who are experts in the neural regulation of immunity, we
will use techniques and approaches adapted from sensory neuroscience to determine how vagal
sensory neurons encode information about inflammatory mediators. This new fundamental
understanding of neuro-immune communication will potentially provide new mechanistic insights
about disorders of disrupted immune homeostasis. It may also lead to the identification of new
targets and strategies for vagus nerve-based neuromodulation to treat a host of inflammatory
disorders.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10280081
- **Project number:** 1R01GM143362-01
- **Recipient organization:** FEINSTEIN INSTITUTE FOR MEDICAL RESEARCH
- **Principal Investigator:** Eric H Chang
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $335,000
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2021-08-01 → 2025-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10280081

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10280081, Encoding of inflammatory mediators by vagal sensory neurons (1R01GM143362-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-27 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10280081. Licensed CC0.

---

*[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*