Publications by authors named "Chin-Chuen Lin"

Orexin A and B, also known as hypocretin 1 and 2, are excitory neuropeptides synthesized in the perifornical and lateral hypothalamic areas. Following their discovery in 1998, orexins are now known to be involved in feeding, sleep, stress response, and reward processing. Most importantly, orexin deficiency has been linked to narcolepsy, a neurological sleep-wake disorder.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objectives: Isobaric tags for relative and absolute quantitation (iTRAQ) is a proteomic investigation that could be utilized for rapid identification and quantification of proteins, which we would use to identify differentially expressed proteins in treatment responsive patients with major depressive disorder (MDD).

Methods: Six treatment responsive patients of MDD were recruited, and their peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMC) were collected before and after 4 weeks of paroxetine treatment. iTRAQ and Mascot search engine were used to detect differentially expressed proteins, which were then validated by Western blot.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Major depressive disorder (MDD) is associated with the activation of the immune/inflammatory system. TNF-α is associated with MDD and poor treatment response. Toll-like receptors (TLR) are responsible in innate immune response, and is associated with MDD and antidepressant response.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) is a neurotrophin that modulates neuroplasticity in the brain, and is one of the most widely investigated molecule in psychiatric disorders. The researches of BDNF emcompassed the advance of investigative techniques of past decades. BDNF researches ranged from protein quantilization, to RNA expression measurements, to DNA sequencing, and lately but not lastly, epigenetic studies.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) exon IX promoter methylation levels, serum BDNF protein levels, and serum mRNA levels were investigated in patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) and healthy controls. Over two years, 51 patients with MDD and 62 healthy controls were recruited. Peripheral blood was drawn from all participants to analyze the BDNF exon IX promoter methylation levels as well as serum BDNF protein and mRNA levels, at baseline and after four weeks of antidepressant treatment.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Major depressive disorder (MDD) had been associated with brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF). Studies had shown that patients with MDD were associated with lower BDNF protein levels, which could be reversed by antidepressant treatment. BDNF expression had also been affected by a number of microRNAs (miRNA).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objective: Anti-N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor (NMDAR) antibody was thought to be the cause of anti-NMDAR encephalitis, with manifestations similar to catatonia and schizophrenia. Anti-NMDAR antibody in neuropsychiatric patients who had catatonia before were investigated in a follow-up evaluation. The intensity of antibody immunofluorescence was quantified and compared with healthy controls.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Increased prevalence of metabolic syndrome was found in patients with schizophrenia. Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) was involved in energy metabolism and the pathophysiology of schizophrenia, but differently in males and females. We aimed to investigate the serum BDNF levels in patients with schizophrenia with and without metabolic syndrome.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objective: The lorazepam-diazepam protocol had been proved to rapidly and effectively relieve catatonia in patients with schizophrenia or mood disorder. This study aims to investigate the efficacy of lorazepam-diazepam protocol in catatonia due to general medical conditions (GMC) and substance.

Method: Patients with catatonia that required psychiatric intervention in various settings of a medical center were included.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) protein or mRNA levels may be involved in the pathophysiology of bipolar disorder. However, the results were inconsistent. We aimed to simultaneously investigate the relationship of BDNF protein and mRNA levels in peripheral blood of patients with bipolar mania.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Inflammation and abnormalities in Toll-like receptor (TLR) expression and activation have been linked to major depressive disorder (MDD). However, negative regulators of TLR pathways have not been previously investigated in this context. Here, we sought to investigate the association of depression severity, measured by the 17-item Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAMD-17), with mRNA expression levels of negative regulators of the TLR pathway, including SOCS1, TOLLIP, SIGIRR, MyD88s, NOD2 and TNFAIP3, in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from 100 patients with MDD and 53 healthy controls, before and after treatment with antidepressants.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

We investigated the blood levels of mixed-lineage leukemia 1 (MLL1) mRNA and BDNF (brain derived neurotrophic factor) exon IV promoter on histone Histone 3 lysine 4 trimethylation (H3K4me3) in peripheral blood of patients with schizophrenia and controls. Over one year, 36 patients with schizophrenia and 32 controls were recruited. Psychiatric diagnoses were made based on DSM-IV criteria.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objective: Relieving catatonia helps identify the underlying etiology and its treatment. However, catatonia may reemerge after some time, but there are few data on the relapses and recurrences of catatonia. We aimed to investigate the characteristics of patients with relapses or recurrences of catatonia as well as the efficacy of the lorazepam-diazepam protocol on them.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

We describe a case with complicated clinical presentations who was difficult to treat. We described the possible etiologies and differential diagnosis of neuroleptic malignant syndrome (NMS), catatonia, and infection, in details. This patient was also referred to neuro-intensive care unit for extensive workup and treatments by neurologist guidelines.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Major depressive disorder (MDD) is characterized by mood, vegetative, cognitive, and even psychotic symptoms and signs that can cause substantial impairments in quality of life and functioning. Biomarkers are measurable indicators that could help diagnosing MDD or predicting treatment response. In this chapter, lipid profiles, immune/inflammation, and neurotrophic factor pathways that have long been implicated in the pathogenesis of MDD are discussed.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Introduction: Schizophrenia is associated with the activation of the immune/inflammatory system. C-reactive protein (CRP), a positive acute phase protein, may be associated with schizophrenia and antipsychotic treatment.

Methods: The serum high-sensitivity CRP (hsCRP) levels of 36 schizophrenic patients undergoing clozapine, olanzapine or risperidone treatment and 36 sex-matched healthy subjects were collected.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objectives: Catatonia is a unique clinical phenomenon characterized by concurrent motor, emotional, vegetative and behavioral signs. Benzodiazepines (BZD) and electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) can rapidly relieve catatonic signs. The lorazepam-diazepam protocol presented here has been proven to relieve catatonia in schizophrenia within a day.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Catatonia has risks of severe morbidity and mortality and needs early treatment. In this study, we investigated more patients to discuss the efficacy of this treatment in patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) or bipolar I disorder (BPI).

Methods: During a period of 9 years, we identified 12 catatonic patients with mood disorder, with MDD (n = 10) and BPI (n = 2) in the emergency department, inpatient and outpatient units of a general hospital.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Schizophrenia is accompanied by an activation of the immune/inflammatory system. In the present study, the relationships between serum interleukin (IL)-6, tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, and transforming growth factor (TGF)-β1 levels and schizophrenia were explored in a group of Taiwanese inpatients. Furthermore, the serum IL-6, TNF-α, and TGF-β1 levels of patients with schizophrenia were compared before and after 1 month of antipsychotic treatment.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF