ArticleNeuropsychiatric disease and treatment2017
Pioglitazone could induce remission in major depression: a meta-analysis.
Article in Neuropsychiatric disease and treatment, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 32 papers.
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Who cites it
32 citing papers in PubMed, 72 citations in OpenAlex.
- Impact of ibuprofen and peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma on emotion-related neural activation: A randomized, placebo-controlled trial.Brain, behavior, and immunity · 2021Trial
- Molecular Characterization of the Progressive Landscape of Depression.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Neuroinflammation and insulin resistance in major depression and bipolar disorder: Implications for clinical trials evaluating immunometabolic targeted therapies.Brain, behavior, & immunity - health · 2026Review
- Metabolic dysfunction and insulin resistance in depression: mechanisms, evidence, and therapeutic implications.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2026Review
- Immuno-metabolic depression: from concept to implementation.The Lancet regional health. Europe · 2025Review
- Article
- Efficacy and Safety of Antidiabetic Agents for Major Depressive Disorder and Bipolar Depression: A Meta-Analysis of Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Trials.Journal of clinical medicine · 2024Article
- The role of polyunsaturated fatty acids in the neurobiology of major depressive disorder and suicide risk.Molecular psychiatry · 2024Review
- Toward a Precision Treatment Approach for Metabolic Depression: Integrating Epidemiology, Neuroscience, and Psychiatry.Biological psychiatry global open science · 2023Article
- Rosiglitazone Mitigates Dexamethasone-Induced Depression in Mice via Modulating Brain Glucose Metabolism and AMPK/mTOR Signaling Pathway.Biomedicines · 2023Article
- Treatment-Resistant Depression Revisited: A Glimmer of Hope.Journal of personalized medicine · 2021Review
- Clinical Evidence of Antidepressant Effects of Insulin and Anti-Hyperglycemic Agents and Implications for the Pathophysiology of Depression-A Literature Review.International journal of molecular sciences · 2020Review
- Article
- Impact of some oral hypoglycemic agents on type 2 diabetes-associated depression and reserpine-induced depression in rats: the role of brain oxidative stress and inflammation.Naunyn-Schmiedeberg's archives of pharmacology · 2020Article
- Review
- Depression as an Immunometabolic Disorder: Exploring Shared Pharmacotherapeutics with Cardiovascular Disease.Current neuropharmacology · 2020Review
- Activation of PPARγ Attenuates the Expression of Physical and Affective Nicotine Withdrawal Symptoms through Mechanisms Involving Amygdala and Hippocampus Neurotransmission.The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience · 2019Article
- Design, synthesis and biological activity evaluation of a new class of 2,4-thiazolidinedione compounds as insulin enhancers.Journal of enzyme inhibition and medicinal chemistry · 2019Article
- Astrocytes are direct cellular targets of lithium treatment: novel roles for lysyl oxidase and peroxisome-proliferator activated receptor-γ as astroglial targets of lithium.Translational psychiatry · 2019Article
- Acyloxyacyl hydrolase modulates depressive-like behaviors through aryl hydrocarbon receptor.American journal of physiology. Regulatory, integrative and comparative physiology · 2019Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
8 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundPioglitazone, a selective agonist of the nuclear transcription factor peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-gamma (PPAR-γ), prescribed for the treatment of type 2 diabetes, could have antidepressant properties. However, its potential to induce remission of major depressive episodes, the optimal clinical target for an antidepressant drug, is a matter of concern. Indeed, only one out of four double-blind randomized controlled trials show higher remission rates with pioglitazone than with control treatments. Hence, the main aim of this study was to perform a meta-analysis of the efficacy of pioglitazone for the treatment of MDE, focusing on remission rates.
methodsFour double-blind randomized controlled trials, comprising 161 patients with an MDE, were included in this meta-analysis. Pioglitazone was studied either alone (one study) or as add-on therapy to conventional treatments (antidepressant drugs or lithium salts). It was compared either to placebo (three studies) or to metformin (one study). Remission was defined by a Hamilton Depression Rating Scale score <8 after treatment.
resultsPioglitazone could induce higher remission rates than control treatments (27% versus 10%,
conclusionPioglitazone, either alone or as add-on therapy to conventional treatments, could induce remission of MDE, suggesting that drugs with PPAR-γ agonist properties may be true and clinically relevant antidepressants, even in patients without metabolic comorbidities.
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