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Neurosteroids and Neurotrophic Factors: What Is Their Promise as Biomarkers for Major Depression and PTSD?

Even though major depressive disorder (MDD) and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are among the most prevalent and incapacitating mental illnesses in the world, their diagnosis still relies solely on the characterization of subjective symptoms (many of which are shared by multiple disorders) sel...

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Autores principales: Almeida, Felipe Borges, Barros, Helena Maria Tannhauser, Pinna, Graziano
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7916492/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33578758
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijms22041758
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author Almeida, Felipe Borges
Barros, Helena Maria Tannhauser
Pinna, Graziano
author_facet Almeida, Felipe Borges
Barros, Helena Maria Tannhauser
Pinna, Graziano
author_sort Almeida, Felipe Borges
collection PubMed
description Even though major depressive disorder (MDD) and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are among the most prevalent and incapacitating mental illnesses in the world, their diagnosis still relies solely on the characterization of subjective symptoms (many of which are shared by multiple disorders) self-reported by patients. Thus, the need for objective measures that aid in the detection of and differentiation between psychiatric disorders becomes urgent. In this paper, we explore the potential of neurosteroids and neurotrophic proteins as biomarkers for MDD and PTSD. Circulating levels of the GABAergic neuroactive steroid, allopregnanolone, are diminished in MDD and PTSD patients, which corroborates the finding of depleted neurosteroid levels observed in animal models of these disorders. The neurotrophic protein, brain-derived neurotropic factor (BDNF), is also reduced in the periphery and in the brain of MDD patients and depressed-like animals that express lower neurosteroid levels. Although the role of BDNF in PTSD psychopathology seems less clear and merits more research, we propose a causal link between allopregnanolone levels and BDNF expression that could function as a biomarker axis for the diagnosis of both MDD and PTSD.
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spelling pubmed-79164922021-03-01 Neurosteroids and Neurotrophic Factors: What Is Their Promise as Biomarkers for Major Depression and PTSD? Almeida, Felipe Borges Barros, Helena Maria Tannhauser Pinna, Graziano Int J Mol Sci Review Even though major depressive disorder (MDD) and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are among the most prevalent and incapacitating mental illnesses in the world, their diagnosis still relies solely on the characterization of subjective symptoms (many of which are shared by multiple disorders) self-reported by patients. Thus, the need for objective measures that aid in the detection of and differentiation between psychiatric disorders becomes urgent. In this paper, we explore the potential of neurosteroids and neurotrophic proteins as biomarkers for MDD and PTSD. Circulating levels of the GABAergic neuroactive steroid, allopregnanolone, are diminished in MDD and PTSD patients, which corroborates the finding of depleted neurosteroid levels observed in animal models of these disorders. The neurotrophic protein, brain-derived neurotropic factor (BDNF), is also reduced in the periphery and in the brain of MDD patients and depressed-like animals that express lower neurosteroid levels. Although the role of BDNF in PTSD psychopathology seems less clear and merits more research, we propose a causal link between allopregnanolone levels and BDNF expression that could function as a biomarker axis for the diagnosis of both MDD and PTSD. MDPI 2021-02-10 /pmc/articles/PMC7916492/ /pubmed/33578758 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijms22041758 Text en © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Review
Almeida, Felipe Borges
Barros, Helena Maria Tannhauser
Pinna, Graziano
Neurosteroids and Neurotrophic Factors: What Is Their Promise as Biomarkers for Major Depression and PTSD?
title Neurosteroids and Neurotrophic Factors: What Is Their Promise as Biomarkers for Major Depression and PTSD?
title_full Neurosteroids and Neurotrophic Factors: What Is Their Promise as Biomarkers for Major Depression and PTSD?
title_fullStr Neurosteroids and Neurotrophic Factors: What Is Their Promise as Biomarkers for Major Depression and PTSD?
title_full_unstemmed Neurosteroids and Neurotrophic Factors: What Is Their Promise as Biomarkers for Major Depression and PTSD?
title_short Neurosteroids and Neurotrophic Factors: What Is Their Promise as Biomarkers for Major Depression and PTSD?
title_sort neurosteroids and neurotrophic factors: what is their promise as biomarkers for major depression and ptsd?
topic Review
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7916492/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33578758
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijms22041758
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