Glucocorticoids prime the inflammatory response of human hippocampal cells through up-regulation of inflammatory pathways.

Increased pro-inflammatory cytokines and an overactive hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis have both been implicated in the pathogenesis of depression. However, these explanations appear contradictory because glucocorticoids are well recognised for their anti-inflammatory effects. Two hypotheses exist to resolve this paradox: the mediating presence of glucocorticoid receptor resistance, or the possibility that glucocorticoids can potentiate inflammatory processes in some circumstances.

Rescue of IL-1β-induced reduction of human neurogenesis by omega-3 fatty acids and antidepressants.

Both increased inflammation and reduced neurogenesis have been associated with the pathophysiology of major depression. We have previously described how interleukin-1 (IL-1) β, a pro-inflammatory cytokine increased in depressed patients, decreases neurogenesis in human hippocampal progenitor cells. Here, using the same human in vitro model, we show how omega-3 (ω-3) polyunsaturated fatty acids and conventional antidepressants reverse this reduction in neurogenesis, while differentially affecting the kynurenine pathway.

Legal highs: staying on top of the flood of novel psychoactive substances.

There has been growing clinical, public, and media awareness and concern about the availability and potential harmfulness of so-called 'legal highs', which are more appropriately called new or novel psychoactive substances (NPS). A cat-and-mouse process has emerged wherein unknown chemists and laboratories are producing new, and as yet nonproscribed, compounds for human consumption; and as soon as they are banned, which they inevitably are, slightly modified analogues are produced to circumvent new laws. This rapidly changing environment, 81 new substances were identified in 2013 alone, has led to confusion for clinicians, psychopharmacologists, and the public at large.