ReviewJournal of clinical neurology (Seoul, Korea)2021
How Inflammation Affects the Brain in Depression: A Review of Functional and Structural MRI Studies.
Review in Journal of clinical neurology (Seoul, Korea), 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 102 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
102 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 162 citations in OpenAlex.
- Differentially expressed microRNAs in human depression: a systematic review of case-control and longitudinal studies.BMC psychiatry · 2025Pooled it
- Meta-Analysis of Brain Volumetric Abnormalities in Patients with Remitted Major Depressive Disorder.Depression and anxiety · 2024Pooled it
- Applications of Mendelian randomization in psychiatry: a comprehensive systematic review.Psychiatric genetics · 2022Pooled it
- Article
- Major Depressive Disorder and Serum Inflammatory Biomarkers as Predictors of Reward-Processing Dysfunction in an American Indian Sample.Biological psychiatry. Cognitive neuroscience and neuroimaging · 2026Article
- Olfactory Bulb and Gyrus Rectus Volumes in Alzheimer's Disease: Associations with Eating Disturbances.Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) · 2026Article
- Unifying the hallmarks of major depression through neuroimmune-metabolic-oxidative (NIMETOX) dysregulation: a mechanistic systems framework.Cellular & molecular immunology · 2026Review
- Visceral Adiposity Is Associated with Elevated Interleukin-1 Receptor Antagonist Levels and Anxiety Symptoms in Schizophrenia.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Article
- Longitudinal Changes in White Matter Hypointensities in Recurrent Late-Life Depression.The American journal of geriatric psychiatry : official journal of the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry · 2026Article
- Ginsenosides in the management of depression: a comprehensive pharmacological review.Chinese medicine · 2026Review
- Tomentosin selectively targets microglial pyroptosis to overcome fluoxetine-resistant depression: a network-based therapeutic discovery.Translational psychiatry · 2026Article
- Multimodal serum and MRI signatures of neuroaxonal injury in high-frequency migraine.The journal of headache and pain · 2026Article
- Nitric Oxide-S-Nitrosylation and Its Role in Neuroinflammation Associated with Neuropsychiatric Conditions.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Review
- Review
- Immune dysregulation and neuroinflammation in bipolar disorder: Pathophysiological insights and therapeutic perspectives.Brain, behavior, & immunity - health · 2026Review
- Review
- Systemic cachexia and muscle-bone crosstalk drive depression-related joint remodeling and pain.International journal of surgery (London, England) · 2026Article
- Inhibition of TRPV1 Ameliorates Depression-Like Behaviors in Male Mice by Regulating Neuroinflammation and Neurogenesis via the JAK2/STAT3 Pathway.Molecular neurobiology · 2026Article
- Purinergic P2X7 receptor signaling in anxiety: Roles of stress-related neuroinflammatory mechanisms and therapeutic horizons.Purinergic signalling · 2026Review
- A 28-Day Ecological Momentary Assessment of Mental Health Among Psychiatric Outpatients With Suicidal Ideation.Journal of advanced nursing · 2026Observational
42 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
This narrative review discusses how peripheral and central inflammation processes affect brain function and structure in depression, and reports on recent peripheral inflammatory marker-based functional and structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies from the perspective of neural-circuit dysfunction in depression. Chronic stress stimulates the activity of microglial cells, which increases the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines in the brain. In addition, microglial activation promotes a shift from the synthesis of serotonin to the synthesis of neurotoxic metabolites of the kynurenine pathway, which induces glutamate-mediated excitotoxicity in neurons. Furthermore, the region specificity of microglial activation is hypothesized to contribute to the vulnerability of specific brain regions in the depression-related neural circuits to inflammation-mediated brain injury. MRI studies are increasingly investigating how the blood levels of inflammatory markers such as C-reactive protein, interleukin (IL)-1β, IL-6, and tumor necrosis factor-α are associated with functional and structural neuroimaging markers in depression. Functional MRI studies have found that peripheral inflammatory markers are associated with aberrant activation patterns and altered functional connectivity in neural circuits involved in emotion regulation, reward processing, and cognitive control in depression. Structural MRI studies have suggested that peripheral inflammatory markers are related to reduced cortical gray matter and subcortical volumes, cortical thinning, and decreased integrity of white matter tracts within depression-related neural circuits. These neuroimaging findings may improve our understanding of the relationships between neuroinflammatory processes at the molecular level and macroscale in vivo neuralcircuit dysfunction in depression.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.