1. Gaman Elena Laura1, Stoian Irina1,2, Cirneci Dragos3
The Emotional Stroop task
Emotional Stroop task as a possible cognitive marker of neuroprogression
Gaman Elena Laura1, Stoian Irina1,2, Cirneci Dragos3 
1University of Medicine and Pharmacy “Carol Davila “(Bucharest), Biochemistry, Romania;
 2R&D Irist Labmed (Bucharest), Romania.
 3 Spiru Haret University, Faculty of Psychology and Science of Education, (Bucharest), Romania;
Presenting author’s
Background
For over 20 years the relations between the nervous and immune systems were considered purely correlational because there was no evidence that the two communicate directly. Recently, Louveau and his colleagues reported that they have discovered functional lymphatic vessels lining the dural sinuses. These structures express all of the molecular hallmarks of lymphatic endothelial cells, are able to carry both fluid and immune cells from the cerebrospinal fluid, and are connected to the deep cervical lymph nodes. This is a basic assumptions in neuroimmunology and sheds new light on the aetiology of neuroinflammatory and neurodegenerative diseases associated with immune system dysfunction (Louveau, Smirnov, Keyes, Eccles et al.,2015). So that, it is widely accepted the theory that the immune system plays a central role in modulating learning, memory and neural plasticity. Under normal quiescent conditions, immune mechanisms are activated by environmental/psychological stimuli and positively regulate the remodeling of neural circuits, promoting memory consolidation, hippocampal LTP and neurogenesis.
Objective
The objective of the present study was to determine if there is a correlation between performance in an Emotional Stroop task with fearful faces and plasma level of pro-inflammatory cytokines in adult healthy subjects.
The Emotional Stroop task
The faces have a neutral expression or a fearful expression and were selected from the set of Ekman and Friesen
Methods
Subjects.Participants were 27 healthy adults, 17 women and 10 men, mean age: 29.9 years. The recruited participants ranged in age from 20 to 46. Exclusionary criteria included: inability to see colors, having an inflammation, infection or flu at the time of the experiment, taking medication with anti-inflammatory effects, or dietary supplements for boosting immune system. We used Structured Clinical Interview for DSM disorders (SCID) for evaluating possible mental disorders. None of the participants have been reporting of having a present or past mental disorder.
Procedure. The participants first completed the Emotional Stroop task and one day after completing the task, the blood for the cytokine measure was collected. The testing was made on one subject at a time, in an isolated room. The collection of blood was made at the same hour of the day. On the plasma samples we determined the level of pro-inflammatory cytokines IL-6 and IL-4 using an ELISA technique
Results
Conclusions
In this study we found that in healthy adult performance in Emotional Stroop task with frightened faces correlates with plasma levels of pro-inflammatory cytokine IL-6. Given the fact that Emotional Stroop tasks are known to correlate with affective disorders and IL-6 represents a strong marker of neuroprogression leading to depression and anxiety we propose a screening role for this cognitive task. It is accepted that an important element is prevention. Lifestyle and parenting style could protect the brain, especially during childhood and adolescence. Moreover, it seems that some of the inflammatory manifestations presented above can be useful biomarkers for the predisposition to psychiatric disorders, and early diagnostic would ensure a more successful treatment. Also in treating these disorders it seems that nerve cells response to the medication depends on the condition of plasticity mechanisms, mechanisms that can be positively influenced by life style and education.