Department of Psychiatry of First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, 310003, China.
The MOE Frontier Science Center for Brain Research and Brain-Machine Integration, Zhejiang University School of Brain Science and Brain Medicine, Hangzhou, 310012, China.
Sci China Life Sci. 2021 Jun;64(6):911-925. doi: 10.1007/s11427-020-1815-6. Epub 2020 Oct 14.
Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a prevalent psychiatric disease that involves malfunctions of different cell types in the brain. Accumulating studies started to reveal that microglia, the primary resident immune cells, play an important role in the development and progression of depression. Microglia respond to stress-triggered neuroinflammation, and through the release of proinflammatory cytokines and their metabolic products, microglia may modulate the function of neurons and astrocytes to regulate depression. In this review, we focused on the role of microglia in the etiology of depression. We discussed the dynamic states of microglia; the correlative and causal evidence of microglial abnormalities in depression; possible mechanisms of how microglia sense depression-related stress and modulate depression state; and how antidepressive therapies affect microglia. Understanding the role of microglia in depression may shed light on developing new treatment strategies to fight against this devastating mental illness.
重度抑郁症（MDD）是一种常见的精神疾病，涉及大脑中不同细胞类型的功能障碍。越来越多的研究开始揭示，小胶质细胞，主要的常驻免疫细胞，在抑郁症的发展和进展中起着重要作用。小胶质细胞对应激引发的神经炎症做出反应，通过释放促炎细胞因子及其代谢产物，小胶质细胞可能调节神经元和星形胶质细胞的功能，从而调节抑郁。在这篇综述中，我们重点关注小胶质细胞在抑郁症发病机制中的作用。我们讨论了小胶质细胞的动态状态；小胶质细胞异常与抑郁症的相关性和因果关系证据；小胶质细胞感知与抑郁相关的应激和调节抑郁状态的可能机制；以及抗抑郁治疗如何影响小胶质细胞。了解小胶质细胞在抑郁症中的作用可能为开发新的治疗策略以对抗这种毁灭性的精神疾病提供思路。
