Department of Chemistry, College of Science, University of Kufa, Kufa, Iraq.
Department of Clinical Laboratory Sciences, College of Pharmacy, University of Kufa, Kufa, Iraq.
Acta Neuropsychiatr. 2020 Apr;32(2):99-108. doi: 10.1017/neu.2019.47. Epub 2020 Jan 14.
This study was carried out to delineate differences between major depressive disorder (MDD) and healthy controls in dynorphin and kappa opioid receptor (KOR) levels in association with changes in the β-endorphin - mu opioid receptor (MOR) and immune-inflammatory system.
The present study examines dynorphin, KOR, β-endorphin, MOR, interleukin (IL)-6 and IL-10 in 60 drug-free male participants with MDD and 30 age-matched healthy males.
Serum dynorphin, KOR, β-endorphin and MOR are significantly higher in MDD as compared to controls. The increases in the dynorphin/KOR system and β-endorphin/MOR system are significantly intercorrelated and are both strongly associated with increased IL-6 and IL-10 levels. Dynorphin, β-endorphin, KOR and both cytokines showed a good diagnostic performance for MDD versus controls with a bootstrapped (n = 2000) area under the receiver operating curve of 0.972. The dynorphin/KOR system is significantly decreased in depression with comorbid nicotine dependence.
Our findings suggest that, in MDD, immune activation is associated with a simultaneous activation of dynorphin/KOR and β-endorphin/MOR signaling and that these opioid systems may participate in the pathophysiology of depression by (a) exerting immune-regulatory activities attenuating the primary immune response and (b) modulating reward responses and mood as well as emotional and behavioural responses to stress.
本研究旨在描绘与β-内啡肽-μ阿片受体（MOR）和免疫炎症系统变化相关的强啡肽和κ阿片受体（KOR）水平在重度抑郁症（MDD）和健康对照者之间的差异。
本研究检查了 60 名未服用药物的 MDD 男性参与者和 30 名年龄匹配的健康男性的强啡肽、KOR、β-内啡肽、MOR、白细胞介素（IL）-6 和 IL-10。
与对照组相比，MDD 患者血清中的强啡肽、KOR、β-内啡肽和 MOR 水平显著升高。强啡肽/KOR 系统和β-内啡肽/MOR 系统的增加呈显著相互关联，且均与 IL-6 和 IL-10 水平的升高密切相关。强啡肽、β-内啡肽、KOR 和两种细胞因子对 MDD 与对照组的诊断表现出良好的性能，Bootstrap（n=2000）的接收者操作曲线下面积为 0.972。伴有尼古丁依赖的抑郁症患者强啡肽/KOR 系统显著降低。
我们的研究结果表明，在 MDD 中，免疫激活与强啡肽/KOR 和β-内啡肽/MOR 信号的同时激活有关，这些阿片系统可能通过（a）发挥免疫调节作用，减弱初级免疫反应，以及（b）调节奖励反应、情绪以及对压力的情感和行为反应，从而参与抑郁症的病理生理学。
