CHANGES OF SERUM IL-6 AND TNF-Α AND THEIR RELATIONSHIPS WITH DEPRESSION SEVE- RITY IN PATIENTS WITH POST-STROKE DEPRESSION

FACAI LIN¹, WEIXING FENG², DEHONG HUANG³, YUNCHUAN WU¹

¹The Second School of Clinical Medicine, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing, China - ²Affiliated Hospital of Shaanxi University of Chinese Medicine, Xianyang, China - ³Department of Neurology, Guangzhou Hospital of TCM, Guangzhou, China

Objective: To observe the changes of serum interleukin (IL)-6 and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) in patients with post-stroke depression (PSD), so as to explore their relationships with the depression severity of patients with PSD.

Methods: A total of 92 patients diagnosed with PSD were selected and divided into mild, moderate and severe depression groups according to Hamilton Depression Scale (HAMD) scores. The expressions of serum IL-6 and TNF-α were detected, the rela- tionships between the levels and normal level of serum IL-6 and TNF-α were compared, and the difference of serum IL-6 and TNF-α in patients with different-degree PSD were analyzed.

Results: The levels of IL-6 and TNF-α were markedly higher in all groups than normal levels, and there were significant diffe- rences (P<0.01), which were the lowest in mild depression group and the highest in severe depression group, but there was insignifi- cant difference among different groups (P>0.05).

Conclusion: Serum IL-6 and TNF-α are in close association with the occurrence of PSD, which increase evidently along with the depression severity. However, there is insignificant relationship between the increase range of IL-6 and TNF-α and the depression severity.