ArticleFrontiers in psychiatry2013
Treating depression and depression-like behavior with physical activity: an immune perspective.
Article in Frontiers in psychiatry, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 61 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
61 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Evaluating the effects of physical activity and antidepressive agents on depressive symptoms in older adults: a meta-analysis of existing evidence.BMC geriatrics · 2025Pooled it
- Effects of exercise on depression and anxiety in postmenopausal women: a pairwise and network meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.BMC public health · 2024Pooled it
- The association between cardiorespiratory fitness and the incidence of common mental health disorders: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Journal of affective disorders · 2019Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Eight weeks of resistance exercise improves mood state and intestinal permeability in healthy adults: A randomized controlled trial.Physiological reports · 2025Trial
- Efficacy of Regular Exercise During Pregnancy on the Prevention of Postpartum Depression: The PAMELA Randomized Clinical Trial.JAMA network open · 2019Trial
- Whole body vibration added to treatment as usual is effective in adolescents with depression: a partly randomized, three-armed clinical trial in inpatients.European child & adolescent psychiatry · 2018Trial
- Preliminary indications of the effect of a brief yoga intervention on markers of inflammation and DNA methylation in chronically stressed women.Translational psychiatry · 2016Trial
- IMPROVEMENTS IN PSYCHOSOCIAL FUNCTIONING AND HEALTH-RELATED QUALITY OF LIFE FOLLOWING EXERCISE AUGMENTATION IN PATIENTS WITH TREATMENT RESPONSE BUT NONREMITTED MAJOR DEPRESSIVE DISORDER: RESULTS FROM THE TREAD STUDY.Depression and anxiety · 2016Trial
- Article
- Path analysis of psychological resilience as a mediator of the relationship between physical activity and depressive symptoms among university students.BMC psychology · 2026Article
- Association between increased serum TNF-α levels and immediate memory impairment in patients with major depressive disorder: pilot study.BJPsych open · 2025Article
- CD4 + T lymphocyte and cytokine profiles in depressive disorders.BMC psychiatry · 2025Article
- Role of astrocyte in neuroinflammation-induced loss in neuroplasticity and subsequent onset of depression: A systematic review.Neuroprotection (Chichester, England) · 2025Review
- Global, regional, and national burden of anxiety disorders during the perimenopause (1990-2021) and projections to 2035.BMC women's health · 2025Article
- Physical inactivity and other cardiovascular risk factors in patients with psoriatic arthritis: Do we really "kill two birds with one stone" by managing inflammation?Reumatologia · 2025Article
- The longitudinal relations between physical activity, inflammation, and depression in the Health and Retirement Study.PLOS mental health · 2025Article
- Correlates and Barriers of Exercise, Stress, and Wellness in Medical Students.Medical science educator · 2024Article
- Construction of a nomogram risk prediction model for depressive symptoms in elderly breast cancer patients.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Outdoor physical activity is not associated with better mental health in a sample of predominantly Black people, but spending time in parks is.Urban forestry & urban greening · 2024Article
1 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The increasing burden of major depressive disorder makes the search for an extended understanding of etiology, and for the development of additional treatments highly significant. Biological factors may be useful biomarkers for treatment with physical activity (PA), and neurobiological effects of PA may herald new therapeutic development in the future. This paper provides a thorough and up-to-date review of studies examining the neuroimmunomodulatory effects of PA on the brain in depression and depression-like behaviors. From a neuroimmune perspective, evidence suggests PA does enhance the beneficial and reduce the detrimental effects of the neuroimmune system. PA appears to increase the following factors: interleukin (IL)-10, IL-6 (acutely), macrophage migration inhibitory factor, central nervous system-specific autoreactive CD4+ T cells, M2 microglia, quiescent astrocytes, CX3CL1, and insulin-like growth factor-1. On the other hand, PA appears to reduce detrimental neuroimmune factors such as: Th1/Th2 balance, pro-inflammatory cytokines, C-reactive protein, M1 microglia, and reactive astrocytes. The effect of other mechanisms is unknown, such as: CD4+CD25+ T regulatory cells (T regs), CD200, chemokines, miRNA, M2-type blood-derived macrophages, and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α [via receptor 2 (R2)]. The beneficial effects of PA are likely to occur centrally and peripherally (e.g., in visceral fat reduction). The investigation of the neuroimmune effects of PA on depression and depression-like behavior is a rapidly developing and important field.
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