Oxidative Stress Implications in the Affective Disorders: Main Biomarkers, Animal Models Relevance, Genetic Perspectives, and Antioxidant Approaches

Abstract

The correlation between the affective disorders and the almost ubiquitous pathological oxidative stress can be described in a multifactorial way, as an important mechanism of central nervous system impairment. Whether the obvious changes which occur in oxidative balance of the affective disorders are a part of the constitutive mechanism or a collateral effect yet remains as an interesting question. However it is now clear that oxidative stress is a component of these disorders, being characterized by different aspects in a disease-dependent manner. Still, there are a lot of controversies regarding the relevance of the oxidative stress status in most of the affective disorders and despite the fact that most of the studies are showing that the affective disorders development can be correlated to increased oxidative levels, there are various studies stating that oxidative stress is not linked with the mood changing tendencies. Thus, in this minireview we decided to describe the way in which oxidative stress is involved in the affective disorders development, by focusing on the main oxidative stress markers that could be used mechanistically and therapeutically in these deficiencies, the genetic perspectives, some antioxidant approaches, and the relevance of some animal models studies in this context.

Do Immune Dysregulations and Oxidative Damage Drive Mood and Psychotic Disorders?

“…A complex interaction between genetic predisposition [22], lifestyle choices [34,35], psychological and other stressors [36] trigger immune abnormalities towards a proinflammatory state and induce OS. These changes lead to progressive cellular and structural damage [11,37], resulting in symptoms related to the underlying disorders.…”

“…Chronic inflammation is bidirectionally associated to OS, also present in schizophrenia and mood disorders [22]. OS induces cell damage due to an imbalance in the release of toxic-free radicals (reactive oxygen species, ROS) from redox reactions over protective antioxidants.…”

“…OS induces cell damage due to an imbalance in the release of toxic-free radicals (reactive oxygen species, ROS) from redox reactions over protective antioxidants. Of note, central nervous system tissue is particularly vulnerable to oxidative damage [22]. ROS are mostly generated by mitochondria, which play a key role in meeting cellular energy demands [23].…”

Cortical biometals: Changed levels in suicide and with mood disorders

“…We have shown that elements termed biometals are altered in the cortex of patients with mood disorders and suicide completers. These biometals are increasingly recognised as being central to maintaining oxidative balance in the CNS (Pokusa and Trancikova, 2017), a mechanism considered particularly important in the pathophysiology of mood disorders (Balmus et al, 2016;Berk et al, 2011) and open to therapeutic intervention (Ng et al, 2008) through biometal homeostatic restoration (Robert et al, 2015). By contrast, the pathways by which metals are involved in suicide remain to be elucidated and our findings indicate that further exploration into the utility of blood 1,1,113 1,1,113 1,1,113 1,1,113 1,1…”

The interactions between the cholinergic and catecholaminergic systems - focusing on memory and oxidative stress

“…In these experiments we have analyzed the effects of cholinergic and catecholaminergic agonists (pilocarpine, clonidine and pergolide), applied in various combinations, on working and reference memory, assessed through the eight radial arms maze test in rats, as well as on basic oxidative stress markers, considering the increased awareness regarding the implications of the oxidative stress status in various neuropsychiatric disorders, including dementia [5,6,[24][25][26][27][28].…”