Histamine Release Can Be Causing Depression

In a study done at the Imperial college London and the University of South Carolina, it has been found that inflammation and release of the molecule histamine could be responsible for mood in the brain. This has become a molecule of interest where depression is a concern. There is a possibility of getting new avenues of treating depression because of this discovery. 

Inflammation is an immune response that affects the body by increasing blood flow to certain body parts. It triggers the release of histamine while it is trying to help the body fight infections.  As inflammation drives blood flow with immune cells, the molecule histamine is also released in the body. It is possible that inflammation can be long-term or short-term. This means that it will cause depression both long and short term. It is, therefore, necessary to find a way to treat depression when a person has inflammation in the body. 

Acute inflammation has now been linked to causing allergic reactions, stress, depression, and it is also a host for some chronic diseases like obesity, diabetes, cancer, and neurodegenerative diseases. There is already strong evidence that inflammation could be playing a major role in depression; according to Dr. Parastoo Hashemi from the department of the imperial of bioengineering. Most people are not responding to antidepressants when they have severe cases of inflammation. 

With more people working on finding avenues to treat depression and inflammation, there is a need to find a serotonin-based treatment for depression. This is because when a person has inflammation, there is a chance that they will not respond positively to anti-depressants. The spotlight that has been shone on histamine will help to determine what cause of action needs to be taken so that there is a treatment for depression that will work effectively. 

Serotonin is one of the molecules that is being targeted when looking for new treatments because it has been referred to as the feel-good molecule. It is now the key target when trying to find depression tackling treatments. It is important to find a way to increase the absorption of serotonin in the brain and allow it to circulate for a longer time in the body so that it can help improve moods. However, many people are developing resistance to the effects of serotonin and it is one of the reasons why researchers are out to investigate the relationship to histamine. Brain serotonin levels can drop when there is an LPS injection and the release of histamine in the brain is triggered by an inflammatory response. This might affect many people causing the depression rate to increase, and it is important to counter the effects of histamine in the brain.