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by carbocation 5812 days ago
Interesting; I've never heard that before. Do you mean that there is peripheral inflammation and the cytokines pass through the blood-brain-barrier, or do you mean that there are actually inflammatory cells that enter the brain and cause depression? Also, can you cite something more specific than a Google search? Most of those are for-profit or interest group websites.

Edit: I found an NIH reference: http://www.nimh.nih.gov/science-news/2009/key-molecule-in-in...

Of the two options I mentioned, it's the former (peripheral inflammation with release of cytokines). Thanks for sharing.

1 comments

Yeah, if you Google for cytokine theory of depression there are a bunch of papers. I'm not an MDPhD so I have a very limited understanding of the science, but from observation and personal experience the hypothesis seems quite accurate. The good news is that it's extremely easy to manage, the bad news is that no one knows this.