Peripheral Markers of Nervous Tissue Damage in Addictive and Affective Disorders

Abstract—Studies on the pathophysiology of mental disorders indicate the involvement of neurobiological processes, including the neuroinflammatory response, neurogenesis, and neuronal degeneration, in the mechanisms of development of these disorders. We examined 135 patients with addictive and affective disorders (51 patients with alcohol dependence syndrome, 41 patients with a current depressive episode and 43 patients with comorbidity of alcohol dependence syndrome and affective disorder) and 46 mentally healthy donors. The content of neurospecific proteins (NSE, MBP, and GFAP) in the blood serum of patients and healthy people was determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The study of peripheral markers of nerve tissue damage showed that all patients are characterized by signs of neuronal and glial distress. The results of analysis of variance and ROC analysis indicate the contribution of NSE and MBP to the development of affective disorders, while GFAP has a greater predictive efficiency in the case of addictive pathology. The tendency towards imbalance in the secretion of neurospecific proteins in the blood serum of patients with comorbidity of alcohol dependence and affective disorders is enhanced, which probably indicates a greater defect in neurobiological processes and neurodegeneration, and is also confirmed by data showing more severe clinical symptoms of patients in these cases of comorbidity.