Central infusion of prostaglandin E2 reveals a unified representation of sickness in the mouse insular cortex.

Prostaglandin E2 induces a coordinated sickness response in mice, with the insular cortex encoding multiple sickness traits more effectively than other regions.

• Why it matters: Understanding how the brain represents sickness is crucial for developing interventions for illness-related behavioral and physiological changes, yet cortical contributions remain unclear.
• What they did: The study used intracerebroventricular PGE2 injections in awake mice, combined with behavioral analysis, Fos mapping, and electrophysiological recordings, to examine neural activity related to sickness.
• The result: Findings show that the insular cortex encodes multidimensional sickness information more robustly than other regions, highlighting its role in integrating immune signals and sickness behaviors.