Posted by SLS on December 21, 2012, at 8:07:33
In reply to Re: High fat diet -) inflammation -) depression » SLS, posted by Trotter on December 20, 2012, at 23:18:23
Hi.
Thanks for taking the time to post the citations and quotes. I have not read them all yet.
> Did you realise that most, if not all, antidepressants have anti-inflammatory action?
>
> http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18580840Fact: depression and stress have pro-inflammatory actions. It makes sense that an *effective* antidepressant treatment would reduce the inflammation these stressors trigger. The article you cited does nothing more than associate depression with inflammation. It does not demonstrate causality.
"...are causally related to depression (following external (psychological) and internal (organic) stressors."
They pretty much proved my point here without realizing it. Stress leads to depression. Although they use the word "causality", they do not demonstrate it.
The authors made no attempt to offer a biological mechanism by which an antidepressant drug exerts an anti-inflammatory effect. They simply have not proved causality in their paper - only association. My suggestion (and it is only a suggestion) would explain all of their observations as easily as theirs would.
I really do think that:
Chronic (psychosocial or systemic) stress > depression > inflammation > more depression > more inflammation > more depression > etc.
If I didn't think that inflammation were an important component to the *persistence* and worsening of depressive illness, I wouldn't bother taking drugs like minocycline. I am convinced that chronic stress produces brain inflammation. Actually, if I could draw a tree here, I would also place inflammation as a secondary component of the stress response via excess cortisol secretion, eventually merging with the main line and leading to a worsening of the depression that had already been triggered.
You might want to look into the relationship between glial cells (including microglia) and inflammation. Once triggered (by stress or depression), they produce pro-inflammatory cytokines. So, here we have a measurable observation of a stressed brain tissue actually causing inflammation - not the other way around.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23051934
We are talking about affective disorders here - Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) and Bipolar Disorder (BD). I am sure that drugs like interferon, interleukin, and other immune system activators can make someone feel depressed, much as I have placed inflammation in my diagram. However, they do not trigger the MDD or BD diseases processes. When you discontinue the offending pro-inflammatory drug, the feelings of depression disappear. Thus, the drug has not produced MDD or BD.
- Scott
Some see things as they are and ask why.
I dream of things that never were and ask why not.- George Bernard Shaw
poster:SLS
thread:1033371
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20121217/msgs/1033431.html