History of research on depression: biomolecular considerations and philosophical reflections
Journal Title: New Medicine - Year 2010, Vol 14, Issue 4
Abstract
Recent studies have demonstrated the existence of significant differences in fatty acid composition of the cell membranes of platelets between depressed humans and apparently healthy subjects.These differences were identified through the use of advanced mathematical tools. In particular an artificial neural network (ANN), the Self-Organizing Map (SOM) described by Kohonen (1982), was employed. The SOM isolated three fatty acids, arachidonic acid (AA), linoleic acid (LA) and palmitic acid (PA), and was able to map two different populations (normal and depressive), recognizing as similar subjects belonging to the same population.The work summarizes the main aspects that link platelets, brain and serotonin through lipid cell membrane viscosity.This seems to be, today, one of the most fascinating hypotheses in the interpretation of depressive disorder. The present work concludes with philosophical reflections about the new feature of technological depression.
Authors and Affiliations
Massimo Cocchi, Lucio Tonello, Fabio Gabrielli, Sofia Tsaluchidu
Keywords
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