Microglial Activation in the Hippocampus of LPS/CMS Exposed Rats: The Role of Lithium Chloride in the Wnt/β-Catenin Pathway

Abstract

Depression has high prevalence worldwide; approximately 350 million people worldwide suffer from depression. This makes depression a major concern to the personal and economic welfare. One of the prominent causes of such burden is the very limited understanding of the mechanisms underlying the psychopathology. Among the most relevant factors determining the onset of depression is the exposure to stressful life events. The nervous and the immune systems are engaged in intense bidirectional interplay. In this perspective, microglia, the resident immune cells of the brain, have attracted a lot of interest in the biological psychiatry field. The role of microglia in interfacing environmental stimuli and changes in brain function has suggested that these cells may underlay the interplay between environmental stimuli and vulnerability to depression.