Inflammation
Introduction
Inflammation has been defined as a systemic reaction of higher organisms to injury or infection. Inflammatory responses are normally accompanied by well-balanced complex reactions of mediators and cells but may occasionally lead to uncontrolled outbreaks as in the case of sepsis.
The intimate interplay of these mediators with immune cells and the surrounding tissue has been shown to induce different pro- and anti-inflammatory states with a potentially either degenerative or regenerative impact on the affected organ.
Considering the limited knowledge about the regulation of the corresponding transition processes, our research activities intend to elucidate the signalling mechanisms controlling the physiological and pathophysiological effects of inflammatory processes with special emphasis on the dose and time-dependent impact of low molecular weight inflammatory stressors. The signalling protein AMPK has been selected as a central focus of our investigations. This protein represents a typical targets for the development of novel drugs aimed to suppress pathological inflammatory processes.