抑郁症是指某种不愉快的心境和一定身体器官的功能紊乱,是一种精神病理状态,迄今为止对抑郁症的治疗及病因研究已有一定的进展,目前的研究认为五羟色胺、多巴胺等单胺类神经递质与抑郁症的发生和治疗有密切的关系,同时,有研究也发现谷氨酸、糖皮质激素等非单胺类系统也与抑郁症密切相关。大量研究显示,在抑郁症患者脑中细胞外调节蛋白激酶的活性降低,而且抑制该酶的活性在动物模型上可表现出类似抑郁的行为。脑源性神经营养因子在抑郁症患者及抑郁症动物模型血液中的水平与正常对照相比均有明显的下调,而且脑源性神经营养因子在抑郁动物模型上有抗抑郁的作用。该文主要对近期与抑郁症相关的受体、细胞因子及细胞通路研究进行综述。
Depression is a mental disease with negative mood and dysfunction of organs. The study of the pathogenesis of depression has made great progress. The current research demonstrates that the disorder of serotonin system and dopamine system are related to depression; a close relationship between depression and the disorder of monoaminergic systems has been repeatedly reported. Researchers also find that the glutamatergic system and glucocorticoid system affect the development and progress of depression. The level of brain-derived neurotrophic factor is significantly decreased in the blood of depressed patients and animal models, and brain-derived neruotrophic factor has a therapeutic effect in animal models of depression. Extracellular signal-regulated kinase is also decreased in depressed patients. This review summarizes the recent understanding about the receptors, cytokine and signal pathway that are thought to be involved in the pathophysiology of depression.