Figure 1.

Beneficial and detrimental roles for the immune system in TBI. Common consequences of neuroinflammation after TBI include neuronal death and tissue loss, BBB breakdown and edema, upregulation of inflammatory mediators, and gliosis and cell infiltration. Researchers have evaluated these processes in order to understand which inflammatory cells and molecules potentiate (blue arrows) and inhibit (orange bars) the inflammatory environment of the brain. While we are beginning to link certain cells and molecules to their beneficial and detrimental effects in CNS injury, an important takeaway from these findings is that facilitators of inflammation may be involved in multiple processes at different points in time after injury.