Department of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Jinshan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai 201508, China.
Department of Laboratory Medicine, Jinshan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai 201508, China.
Biomed Pharmacother. 2024 May;174:116623. doi: 10.1016/j.biopha.2024.116623. Epub 2024 Apr 20.
Postpartum depression (PPD) has a significant impact on the physical and mental health of mothers, potentially leading to symptoms such as low mood, fatigue, and decreased appetite. It may also affect the healthy growth of the infant. The onset of PPD is closely related to abnormalities in inflammation and the immune system. PPD patients exhibit abnormalities in the proportion of peripheral blood immune cells, along with an increase in pro-inflammatory cytokines. Excessive pro-inflammatory cytokines in peripheral blood can disrupt the blood-brain barrier (BBB) by activating astrocytes and reducing transendothelial electrical resistance (TEER), allowing peripheral immune cells or cytokines to enter the brain and trigger inflammation, ultimately leading to the onset of depression. In addition, PPD lacks safe and effective treatment medications. In this study, we collected peripheral blood from both healthy postpartum women and those with PPD, conducted single cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq), and used an in-house analytical tool scSTAR to reveal that PPD patients exhibit elevated proportions of peripheral blood cDC2 and Proliferation B cells, which are significantly correlated with IL-1β. Additionally, animal experiments were designed to validate that 919 granules can improve PPD by modulating the levels of peripheral blood IL-1β, providing a potential therapeutic mechanism for PPD treatment.
产后抑郁症（PPD）对母亲的身心健康有重大影响，可能导致情绪低落、疲劳和食欲下降等症状，也可能影响婴儿的健康成长。PPD 的发病与炎症和免疫系统异常密切相关。PPD 患者外周血免疫细胞比例异常，促炎细胞因子增加。外周血中过量的促炎细胞因子可通过激活星形胶质细胞和降低跨内皮电阻（TEER）破坏血脑屏障（BBB），使外周免疫细胞或细胞因子进入大脑并引发炎症，最终导致抑郁症的发生。此外，PPD 缺乏安全有效的治疗药物。在这项研究中，我们收集了健康产后妇女和 PPD 患者的外周血，进行了单细胞 RNA 测序（scRNA-seq），并使用内部分析工具 scSTAR 揭示了 PPD 患者外周血 cDC2 和增殖 B 细胞的比例升高，这与 IL-1β显著相关。此外，还设计了动物实验来验证 919 颗粒可以通过调节外周血 IL-1β水平来改善 PPD，为 PPD 的治疗提供了潜在的治疗机制。
