Inflammation Occurs During Both Depression And Mania
There is increasing evidence of a link between mood disorders and inflammation in the body.
At the 2014 meeting of the International Society for Bipolar Disorders, Shang-Ying Tsai discussed increases in measures of inflammation that occur in bipolar disorder as a function of the clinical state of depression, mania, or euthymia (remission). He found that in both mania and depression, there were elevations in various markers of inflammation: STNF-R1, CRP, IL-Ira and SLR-2r. However, SLR-2r showed some particularly interesting results. In mania, elevation of SLR-2r, a marker of cell-mediated inflammation, was state-related, meaning it increased during an episode of mania and remained normal during euthymia. In depression, SLR-2r elevation was trait-related, or persistently elevated (even in remission).
Editor’s Note: This study adds to a growing list of studies that confirm the presence of inflammation in patients with bipolar disorder compared to normal controls, including a 2012 article by Tsai in the Journal of Affective Disorders. How elevations in inflammatory markers in a given individual should direct specific types of treatment intervention remains to be further clarified.
