Primary Literature for Teaching Neuroimmunology – An Instructor's Resource

Supplementing textbooks with primary literature in teaching neuroscience is a growing practice associated with several positive outcomes, such as increased content knowledge, research and data skills, and critical thinking. This pedagogical approach, however, still needs further development to make it accessible to instructors and valuable to students. This article describes a series of published articles we used in an undergraduate neuroimmunology course. Articles were selected to supplement the teaching of significant principles in the neuroimmunology of disease in neuro-infections, autoimmune diseases, and neurodegenerative diseases. Specifically, articles on multiple sclerosis, experimental autoimmune encephalitis, Herpes Simplex Virus 1, SIV/HIV infections, Alzheimer's, and Parkinson's diseases are described, and the pedagogical value of each is enunciated. These sources could be incorporated into a range of undergraduate and graduate courses to introduce several topics and principles of neuroimmunology.