Until a few years ago, cytokines were only known to immunologists; now these molecules have burst upon neurosciences and permeated several avenues of current research. This book examines the possible role of cytokines in mental depression, based on recent clinical and experimental data, and constitutes the first attempt to make a synthesis between the exciting new developments in cytokine research and their implications for the pathophysiology of mental disorders.
Cytokines had been characterized in the early eighties as communication mole cules between immune cells, and between immunocytes and other peripheral cells, such as fibroblasts and endothelial cells. They play a key role in the regulation of the immune response and the coordination of the host response to infection. Based on these biological properties, nobody would have predicted that one decade later cytokines would burst upon neurosciences and permeate into several avenues of current research. In neurology, the connection between cytokines and inflammation, and the demonstration of a pivotal role of some of these molecules in cell death by apoptosis, prompted the investigation of their involvement in several neurological diseases involving an inflammatory component, including multiple sclerosis, brain trauma, stroke, and Alzheimer's disease. This movement started in the late eighties, and the corresponding field of research, known as neuroimmunology, is presently booming. In psychiatry, however, the relationship between cytokines and mental disorders was much less evident and took longer to materialize. The first indication that cytokines might be involved in psychopathology came from cancerology and internal medicine.
Inflammation has invaded the field of psychiatry. The finding that cytokines are elevated in various affective and psychotic disorders brings to the forefront the necessity of identifying the precise research domain criteria (RDoCs) that inflammation is responsible for. This task is certainly the most advanced in major depressive disorders. The reason is that a dearth of clinical and preclinical studies has demonstrated that inflammation can cause symptoms of depression and conversely, cytokine antagonists can attenuate symptoms of depression in medical and psychiatric patients with chronic low grade inflammation. Important knowledge has been gained on the symptom dimensions that inflammation is driving and the mechanisms of action of cytokines in the brain, providing new targets for drug research and development. The aim of the book “Inflammation-Associated Depression” is to present this field of research and its implications in a didactic and comprehensive manner to basic and clinical scientists, psychiatrists, physicians, and students at the graduate level.
This book explains how stress – either psychological or physical – can activate and/or paralyse human innate or adaptive immunity. Adequate immunity is crucial for maintaining health, both on Earth and in space. During space flight, human physiology is specifically challenged by complex environmental stressors, which are most pronounced during lunar or interplanetary missions. Adopting an interdisciplinary approach, the book identifies the impact of these stressors – the space exposome – on immunity as a result of (dys-)functions of specific cells, organs and organ networks. These conditions (e.g. gravitation changes, radiation, isolation/confinement) affect immunity, but at the same time provide insights that may help to prevent, diagnose and address immune-related health alterations. Written by experts from academia, space agencies and industry, the book is a valuable resource for professionals, researchers and students in the field of medicine, biology and technology. The chapters “The Impact of Everyday Stressors on the Immune System and Health”, “Stress and Radiation Responsiveness” and “Assessment of Radiosensitivity and Biomonitoring of Exposure to Space adiation” are available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License via link.springer.com.
Cytokines and Mental Health explores the relationship between cytokines, neural circuitry and mental health. It is interdisciplinary and "translational", bringing together information that spans the spectrum from the molecular and cellular levels to the patient and the clinic. Content includes chapters that discuss cytokine pathways in the brain, the neurochemical and neuroendocrine effects of cytokines, and the behavioral effects of cytokines including sickness behavior. These chapters in basic research are followed by a more clinical section that discusses the role of cytokines in neuropsychiatric disorders such as major depression, schizophrenia and Alzheimer's disease. The book offers different things to different people. It should be of great interest to neuroscientists and immunologists working in the field of psychoneuroimmunology. It would also greatly benefit mental health professionals including psychiatrists, psychologists and clinicians of diverse background who are interested in mind-body medicine.
This handbook is currently in development, with individual articles publishing online in advance of print publication. At this time, we cannot add information about unpublished articles in this handbook, however the table of contents will continue to grow as additional articles pass through the review process and are added to the site. Please note that the online publication date for this handbook is the date that the first article in the title was published online.
Women are twice as likely as men to experience protracted sadness, apathy, low self-esteem, and other symptoms of depression. How can we account for this sex difference? Several explanations have been proposed, some dating back many years. This book critically examines the evidence for each explanation in an attempt to discover what we do and do not know about sex differences in depression. It is a landmark review of the historical, theoretical and empirical approaches to sex differences in depression. Nolen-Hoeksema presents a fresh historical review, makes theoretical criticisms and offers clear and challenging avenues for future research and practical applications.
As seen on "CBS This Morning" Worldwide, depression will be the single biggest cause of disability in the next twenty years. But treatment for it has not changed much in the last three decades. In the world of psychiatry, time has apparently stood still...until now with Edward Bullmore's The Inflamed Mind: A Radical New Approach to Depression. A Sunday Times (London) Top Ten Bestseller In this game-changing book, University of Cambridge professor of psychiatry Edward Bullmore reveals the breakthrough new science on the link between depression and inflammation of the body and brain. He explains how and why we now know that mental disorders can have their root cause in the immune system, and outlines a future revolution in which treatments could be specifically targeted to break the vicious cycles of stress, inflammation, and depression. The Inflamed Mind goes far beyond the clinic and the lab, representing a whole new way of looking at how mind, brain, and body all work together in a sometimes misguided effort to help us survive in a hostile world. It offers insights into how we could start getting to grips with depression and other mental disorders much more effectively in the future.
The dysregulation of pro-inflammatory cytokines as a result of stress exposure has become widely implicated in the complex etiology of depression. Patients with depression have been shown to have elevated levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines both in plasma and cerebral spinal fluid. During times of stress pro-inflammatory cytokines are primarily regulated by glucocorticoids and catecholamines that work in opposition to one another to inhibit (glucocorticoid receptor) or stimulate (beta-adrenergic receptor) pro-inflammatory cytokine production. While chronic stress can lead to heightened levels of both glucocorticoids and catecholamines, it is not known how the dysregulation of these systems affect the regulation of pro-inflammatory cytokines. This dissertation focused its work through three aims. Aim 1 explored norepinephrine's regulation of microglial pro-inflammatory cytokines. Aim 2 examined sex differences in the regulation of brain IL-1 beta by glucocorticoids and catecholamines following chronic stress. Finally, aim 3 sought to uncover glucocorticoids effect on norepinephrine turnover. Together, these aims help to better understand how chronic stress alters the regulation of brain pro-inflammatory cytokines with implications for depression.
