The brain is one of the first organs affected during sepsis development; however, the mechanisms associated with septic encephalopathy are not well known [104] . Comim et al. hypothesised that during sepsis, brain cytokines and chemokines may lead to alterations in the blood-brain barrier (BBB) permeability, resulting in an increase in the flux of inflammatory cells and toxic mediators into the brain, thus contributing to injury. They demonstrated that the brain's production of cytokines and chemokines was an early event during sepsis, and seemed to participate in both central nervous system dysfunction and BBB permeability alterations [105] .