Inflammation Meets Evo-Devo

Inflammation integrates diverse mechanisms that are associated not only with pathological conditions, such as cardiovascular diseases, type 2 diabetes, obesity, neurodegenerative diseases and cancer, but also with physiological processes like reproduction i.e., oogenesis and embryogenesis as well as aging. In the current review, we propose that the inflammatory response could also recapitulate the phylogenia and the ontogenia. Highly conserved inflammatory mechanisms that play a main role in the evolutive development of different animal species, both invertebrates as well as vertebrates are identified. In this way, inflammation could represent a key tool used by nature to modulate organisms according to the environmental conditions in which these develop. Thus inflammation could be the pathway by which the environmental conditions could be related to the evolutionary development. The hypothetical consideration of inflammation as recapitulation of phylogenia and ontogenia could make it possible to integrate the pathophysiological mechanisms of these diverse chronic pathological conditions.

Keywords: Surgical inflammation, evo-devo, phylogenia, ontogenia, acute phase response, ischemia, hydration, catabolism, lipoprotein-related metabolism, vitellogenesis, metaflammation.