Depression gets old fast: do stress and depression accelerate cell aging?
Depression has been likened to a state of "accelerated aging," and depressed individuals have a higher incidence of various diseases of aging, such as cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, metabolic syndrome, and dementia. Chronic exposure to certain interlinked biochemical pathways that mediate stress-related depression may contribute to "accelerated aging," cell damage, and certain comorbid medical illnesses. Biochemical mediators explored in this theoretical review include the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (e.g., hyper- or hypoactivation of glucocorticoid receptors), neurosteroids, such as dehydroepiandrosterone and allopregnanolone, brain-derived neurotrophic factor, excitotoxicity, oxidative and inflammatory stress, and disturbances of the telomere/telomerase maintenance system. A better appreciation of the role of these mediators in depressive illness could lead to refined models of depression, to a re-conceptualization of depression as a whole body disease rather than just a "mental illness," and to the rational development of new classes of medications to treat depression and its related medical comorbidities.
Wolkowitz
Owen M
OM
Department of Psychiatry, University of California School of Medicine, San Francisco, California, USA. Owen.Wolkowitz@ucsf.edu
Epel
Elissa S
ES
Reus
Victor I
VI
Mellon
Synthia H
SH
D001143:Arousal / Q000502:physiology; D016922:Cellular Senescence / Q000502:physiology*; D002908:Chronic Disease / Q000523:psychology; D015897:Comorbidity; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology; D018698:Glutamic Acid / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D006854:Hydrocortisone / Q000097:blood; D007030:Hypothalamo-Hypophyseal System / Q000503:physiopathology; D018836:Inflammation Mediators / Q000097:blood; D019222:Mind-Body Relations, Metaphysical; D010913:Pituitary-Adrenal System / Q000503:physiopathology; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000150:complications / Q000503:physiopathology*; D019098:Telomerase / Q000502:physiology; D016615:Telomere / Q000502:physiology
D018836:Inflammation Mediators; D018698:Glutamic Acid; D019098:Telomerase; D006854:Hydrocortisone