Long stay in depressed states can significantly undermine health and lead to irreversible changes in the brain.

Long stay in depressed states can significantly undermine health and lead to irreversible changes in the brain. To this conclusion came the scientists of the Canadian Center for Addiction and Mental Health at the University of Toronto. This is reported by the portal EurekAlert. The results of the study can be found in The Lancet Psychiatry. Scientists for more than a decade observed the state of health of 80 people, among them were completely healthy people and suffering from depression. It turned out that the depressive in the brain has about 30% higher level of translocator protein TSPO, it is usually produced in cases of Alzheimer's or Parkinson's disease. The publication notes that the protein TSPO is a marker of inflammation, standing out in a significant volume when activated by immune brain cells - microglia. It turns out that depression actually leads to inflammation of the brain. Neuroscientists suggest that when treating depression, it is necessary to take into account how long it lasted, although it has until now been assumed that this does not play a crucial role. "Inflammation is the common response of the body to degenerative brain diseases, such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's," says study author Dr. Jeff Meyer. According to him, although depression is not considered a degenerative brain disease, a change in the level of inflammation indicates that the ailment can be progressive, rather than static.

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