الفهرس 
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Abstract
Depression is a significant public health concern worldwide and has been ranked as one of the illnesses having the greatest burden for individuals, families and society.
Major depressive disorder (MDD) is considered a syndromic entity, with multiple distinct causes and pathophysiologies leading to a common final outcome.
Pro-inflammatory cytokines such as interleukin-6 (IL-6) or IL-1 play a significant role in developing depression and can mediate its psychological, behavioral and neurobiological manifestations.
Recently, there is a new hypothesis, that activation of inflammatory and oxidative stress pathways are a key pathophysiological factor in depression. F2 isoprostanes are considered the best available biomarkers of oxidative stress status and lipid peroxidation in vivo and their measurement has several advantages over other quantitative markers of oxidative stress.
Over the past decade, increasing evidence has implicated neurotrophic factors as brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) in the pathophysiology of depression. Depressed subjects show increased cellular atrophy in limbic and cortical areas of the brain, consistent with decreased neurotrophic activity. However, a considerable number of recent studies generate data that are markedly inconsistent with the theory of involvement of BDNF in the pathophysiology of depression.
The aim of the present work was to study the possible role of IL-6, 8-Iso-Prostaglandin F2α (8-iso-PGF2α) and BDNF in MDD and the possible interaction between them. In order to achieve this goal, this study included 30 MDD patients and 20 age-matched healthy adult volunteers.
Following proper selection of patients and control subjects, the following laboratory tests were performed for all of them:
1. Determination of serum IL-6 concentration by the ELISA technique.
2. Determination of serum 8-iso-PGF2α using an EIA technique.
3. Determination of serum BDNF by ELISA technique.
The following results were obtained:
1. There was significantly higher IL-6 in MDD patients than normal healthy controls.
2. There was a significant increase in 8-iso-PGF2α in MDD group than the control group.
3. There was no significant difference in BDNF levels in MDD patients compared to healthy control subjects.
4. A positive significant correlation between IL-6 and HDRS, a method to assess the severity of depression, was showed.