Neuroimmune Endocrine Effects of Antidepressants

Overview

Journal Neuropsychiatr Dis Treat

Publisher Dove Medical Press

Specialty Psychiatry

Date 2012 Feb 21

PMID 22347798

Citations 16

Authors

Marco Antonioli

Joanna Rybka

Livia A Carvalho

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Antidepressant pharmacotherapy is to date the most often used treatment for depression, but the exact mechanism of action underlying its therapeutic effect is still unclear. Many theories have been put forward to account for depression, as well as antidepressant activity, but none of them is exhaustive. Neuroimmune endocrine impairment is found in depressed patients; high levels of circulating corticosteroids along with hyperactivation of the immune system, high levels of proinflammatory cytokines, low levels of melatonin in plasma and urine, and disentrainment of circadian rhythms have been demonstrated. Moreover, antidepressant treatment seems to correct or at least to interfere with these alterations. In this review, we summarize the complex neuroimmune endocrine and chronobiological alterations found in patients with depression and how these systems interact with each other. We also explain how antidepressant therapy can modify these systems, along with some possible mechanisms of action shown in animal and human models.

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