Title: inflammation
Long Title: IUPAC Gold Book - inflammation
DOI: 10.1351/goldbook.11830
Status: current

Definition
Reaction of the body to injury or to infectious, allergic, or chemical irritation; characterized by redness, swelling, heat, and pain resulting from dilation of the blood vessels accompanied by loss of plasma and leukocytes into the tissues.

Note
This process differs in the brain, where lymphocytic invasion requires compromise of the blood–brain barrier, although T-cells can enter the brain for surveillance.

Related Terms
- blood–brain barrier: https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/11640
- brain: https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/11647
- neuroinflammation: https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/11936

Source
- PAC, 2015, 87, 841. 'IUPAC Glossary of terms used in neurotoxicology (IUPAC Recommendations 2015)' on page 875 (https://doi.org/10.1515/pac-2015-0103)

Other Outputs
- html: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/11830/html
- json: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/11830/json
- xml: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/11830/xml

Citation: Citation: 'inflammation' in IUPAC Compendium of Chemical Terminology, 5th ed. International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry; 2025. Online version 5.0.0, 2025. 10.1351/goldbook.11830
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Disclaimer: The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) is continuously reviewing and, where needed, updating terms in the Compendium of Chemical Terminology (the IUPAC Gold Book). Users of these terms are encouraged to include the version of a term with its use and to check regularly for updates to term definitions that you are using.
Accessed: 2026-07-16T02:35:07+00:00