Cytokines, Stress, and Depression / Edition 1

by Robert Dantzer, Emmanuelle E. Wollmann, Raz Yirmiya

Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780306461354
Publisher:	Springer US
Publication date:	07/31/1999
Series:	Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology , #461
Edition description:	1999
Pages:	338
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x 0.03(d)

Table of Contents

Depression and Immunity.- Immune Correlates of Depression.- Major Depression and Activation of The Inflammatory Response System.- Cytokine Production in Depressed Patients.- Indicators of Immune Activation in Depressed Patients.- Brain Effects on Cytokines.- Mood and Cognitive Disorders in Cancer Patients Receiving Cytokine Therapy.- Mechanisms of the Behavioural Effects of Cytokines.- Effects of Cytokines on Glucocorticoid Receptor Expression And Function.- Effects of Cytokines on Cerebral Neurotransmission.- Inflammation and Brain Function under Basal Conditions and During Long-Term Elevation of Brain Corticotropin-Releasing Hormone Levels.- Effects of Stress on Cytokine Production and Actions.- Dynamic Regulation of Proinflammatory Cytokines.- Cross-Sensitization Between Immune And Non-Immune Stressors.- Effects of Cytokines and Cytokine Antagonists in Animal Models of Depression.- Anhedonic and Anxiogenic Effects of Cytokine Exposure.- Stress, Learned Helplessness, and Brain Interleukin-1?.- Stress, Depression, and The Role of Cytokines.- Effects of Antidepressants Cytokine Production and Action.- Is There Evidence for an Effect of Antidepressant Drugs on Immune Function?.- Cytokines, “Depression Due to A General Medical Condition,” and Antidepressant Drugs.- Cytokines, Stress, and Depression.

Editorial Reviews

Presents recent findings on one of the most of many surprising effects of the molecules that are being discovered: that they induce most of the symptoms of depression when injected in test animals and volunteers. Among the topics are major depression and activation of the inflammatory response system, mechanisms of the behavioral effects of cytokines, a comparison of the effects of stress and of cytokines on cerebral neurotransmission, the dynamic regulation of pro- inflammatory cytokines, anhedonic and anxiogenic effects, possible evidence for an effect of antidepressant drugs on immune function, and whether a cross-sensitization between immune and non-immune stressors plays a role in the etiology of depression. The 16 papers are from an international conference in Roscoff, France, in May 1998. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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