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BackgroundThe highly heterogeneous pathogenesis of depression and limited response to current antidepressants call for more objective evidence for depression subtypes. Reactive and endogenous depression are two etiologically distinct subtypes associated with different treatment responses. This study aims to explore the potential biomarkers that differentiate reactive and endogenous depressions.MethodsThe clinical manifestations and biological indicators of 64 unmedicated mild-to-moderate depression patients (32 reactive depression patients and 32 endogenous depression patients) and 21 healthy subjects were observed. The 24-item Hamilton rating scale for depression (HAMD-24) was used to evaluate the severity of depression. Serum levels of depression-related biological indicators were measured by using the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.ResultsThe NLRP3 level of reactive depression was significantly lower than those of endogenous depression and healthy controls. There was a significant negative correlation between the BDNF level and the HAMD-24 total scores for patients with reactive depression.ConclusionOur findings suggested the serum NLRP3 and BDNF levels could be potential biomarkers for detecting and evaluating the severity of reactive depression.

To investigate the effect of acupuncture on behavior changes and the expression of reactive oxygen species (ROS), cytochrome C, cysteine-containing aspartate-specific proteases-3 (caspase-3), apoptosis inducing factor (AIF) in the hippocampus of rats exposed to chronic restraint stress (CRS), so as to provide experimental evidence for the prevention and treatment of depression.Thirty two male SD rats were equally randomized into control, model, acupuncture and medication (Fluoxetine) groups according to the random number table. The depression model was established by chronic psychological stress stimulation (fasting, water deprivation, chronic restraint combined with solitary raising for 28 days). Manual acupuncture stimulation (2 circles/s) was applied to "Baihui" (GV20), "Yintang" (GV29) and bilateral "Sanyinjiao" (SP6) for 2 min, followed by retaining the needles for 20 min. Rats in the medication group were treated by gavage of Fluoxetine (0.18 mg/mL, 1 mL/100 g body weight). The treatment was conducted once daily for 28 days. The depression-like behavior was evaluated by using open-field test, sucrose preference test, and body weight. The content of ROS of the right hippocampus tissue was detected by using dichloro-dihydro-fluorescein diacetate (DCFH-DA) assay, and the expression levels of cytochrome C, caspase-3 and AIF proteins of hippocampus were determined by using Western blot.After 28 days' stress procedure, the depression rats in the model group showed a significant decrease in the numbers of crossing and rearing of open-field test, sucrose preference index and the body weight compared to the control group (Acupuncture intervention can significantly reduce ROS content and expression level of cytochrome C, caspase-3 and AIF proteins in the hippocampus possibly by inhibiting the chronic psychological stress-hippocampal oxidative stress-mitochondrial apoptotic pathway in psychological stress-induced depression rats, which may contribute to its effect in relieving depression.

Background Subthreshold depression (StD) is a prevalent condition that may increase the risk of incident major depressive disorder (MDD). However, the relationship between StD and MDD remains unclear. Methods A total of 153 adult subjects, including 53 drug-naive MDD, 50 StD and 50 healthy control (HC) subjects, underwent a T1-weighted magnetic resonance imaging scan, and the gray matter volume (GMV) alterations among the three groups were quantitatively analyzed using voxel-based morphometry (VBM). Then, to capture the whole-brain connectivity characteristics, we constructed morphological brain networks (MBN) based on the similarity among brain regions of individual VBM images and compared the network connection strengths among the three groups. Results The StD and MDD subjects had similar patterns of GMV reductions in the orbitofrontal cortex and left temporal gyrus, although the magnitude of the reductions was smaller in StD subjects. Moreover, a total of 21 morphological connections were significantly different among the three groups. For the majority of the different connections (15/21), the connection strength of the StD group took an intermediate position between that of the MDD and HC groups. Limitations There is still a lack of a consistent definition of StD, and the age range of the subjects in this study was wide. Meanwhile the mechanisms and biological significance of the MBN remains to be clarified. Conclusions These results may support the hypothesis that depression is better expressed as a spectrum and that StD exists on a spectrum with MDD.

To investigate the effect of acupuncture intervention on the depression behavior and expression of extracellular signal-regulated protein kinases (ERK 1/2), p-ERK 1/2 and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) in the prefrontal cortex of chronic unpredictable mild stress (CUMS) induced depression rats, so as to explore its antidepressant mechanism.Sixty-four male SD rats were randomly divided into control, model, acupuncture, Fluoxetine, model ＋ Dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO), model ＋ PD 98059(an ERK pathway inhibitor), acupuncture ＋ PD 98059 and Fluoxetine ＋ PD 98059 groups (Compared with the control group, the sucrose consumption and the expression levels of p-ERK 1/2 and BDNF protein in the prefrontal cortex were significantly reduced in the model and model＋DMSO group (Acupuncture intervention has an anti-depressive role in CUMS induced depression rats, which may be related to its effects in up-regulating the expression of p-ERK 1/2 and BDNF in the prefrontal cortex tissue.