Cytokines in the physiopathology of depression

Abstract

This paper presents a bibliographical review on the relevance of the possible role of cytokines in depression. There is a consideration of the existing approaches to detection and diagnosis of depression; they are classified according to different criteria such as design methodologies and applications. Although the etiology of depression is still an issue, the focus of this paper is to highlight the various studies regarding the interactions of the immune system and brain activity linked to depression. These interactions are particularly important when trying to find a correlation between proinflammatory cytokines (such as IL-1, IL-6, and TNF-α) and depression. This includes a brief comparison of results obtained by different studies.