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Depression gets old fast: do stress and depression accelerate cell aging?†
Article first published online: 1 APR 2010
DOI: 10.1002/da.20686
© 2010 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Additional Information
How to Cite
Wolkowitz, O. M., Epel, E. S., Reus, V. I. and Mellon, S. H. (2010), Depression gets old fast: do stress and depression accelerate cell aging?. Depress. Anxiety, 27: 327–338. doi: 10.1002/da.20686
- †
Publication History
- Issue published online: 1 APR 2010
- Article first published online: 1 APR 2010
- Manuscript Accepted: 13 FEB 2010
- Manuscript Revised: 12 FEB 2010
- Manuscript Received: 9 NOV 2009
Funded by
- O'Shaughnessy Foundation
- University of California
Corrected by:
Erratum: Erratum
Vol. 27, Issue 7, 693, Article first published online: 28 APR 2010
- Abstract
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Keywords:
- depression;
- stress;
- aging;
- cortisol;
- BDNF;
- DHEA;
- telomeres;
- oxidation;
- inflammation;
- allopregnanolone
Abstract
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. Depression and Anxiety, 2010. © 2010 Wiley-Liss, Inc.