Journal Article Review Ppublish 4 citations
PubMed: 42411430 DOI: 10.31083/JIN51052
Glymphatic-Related Alterations in Major Depressive Disorder and Treatment-Resistant Depression: Imaging Proxies, Mechanistic Links, and Therapeutic Opportunities.
J Integr Neurosci 25(6):51052
Authors: Tommaso Barlattani, Chiara D'Amelio, Arianna Baschieri, Edoardo Trebbi, Filippo Trebbi, Alessandro Rossi, Vassilis Martiadis, Valerio Ricci, Carmine Tomasetti, Domenico De Berardis, Francesca Pacitti
Affiliations
- Department of Biotechnological and Applied Clinical Sciences, University of L'Aquila, 67100 L'Aquila, Italy.
- Department of Public Health and Infectious Diseases, "La Sapienza" University of Rome, 00100 Rome, Italy.
- Psychiatry and Clinical Neurobiology, Division of Neuroscience, IRCCS San Raffaele Scientific Institute, 20132 Milano, Italy.
- Department of Mental Health, Azienda Sanitaria Locale Napoli 1 Centro, 80145 Naples, Italy.
- Psychiatric Unit, San Luigi Gonzaga University Hospital, 10043 Turin, Italy.
- Department of Mental Health, Mental Health Center of Giulianova, 64021 Teramo, Italy.
Abstract
Major depressive disorder is increasingly conceptualized as a condition involving brain network dysfunction, neuroimmune imbalance, sleep-circadian disruption, hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA)-axis dysregulation, monoaminergic arousal instability, and impaired synaptic plasticity. In parallel, the glymphatic system has emerged as a plausible integrative mechanism linking these domains, because it is a glia-dependent pathway supporting cerebrospinal fluid-interstitial fluid exchange and metabolic-waste clearance, with activity strongly modulated by deep non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep. This narrative review synthesizes evidence that glymphatic-related magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) proxies, particularly diffusion tensor imaging along the perivascular space (DTI-ALPS), are altered in depression, while emphasizing that DTI-ALPS is an indirect marker of perivascular diffusion rather than a direct measure of glymphatic flow. We define four key research gaps: scarcity of treatment-resistant depression (TRD)-specific cohorts, regional and technical heterogeneity across MRI studies, and uncertainty about causal direction relative to sleep disturbance and inflammation. Altered indices appear to relate to fatigue, psychomotor retardation, cognitive impairment, rumination, suicidality, systemic inflammation, oxidative stress, and HPA-axis dysregulation. We integrate opposite-direction findings, including elevated ALPS in drug-naive somatic depression, into a state- and subtype-dependent working model rather than a unidirectional dysfunction framework. Therapeutic implications are organized by target specificity, including sleep-dependent clearance, perivascular exchange, aquaporin-4 (AQP4) polarization, vascular pulsatility, and neuroimmune modulation. We propose falsifiable predictions and negative-control analyses to distinguish a glymphatic-related model from additive effects of insomnia, inflammation, and vascular risk. Overall, the current evidence supports a cautious translational framework for biomarker-informed trials in TRD-relevant phenotypes rather than a validated diagnostic biomarker.
MeSH
Depression, Glymphatic System, Sleep, Biomarkers, Depressive Disorder, Diffusion Tensor Imaging, Neurosciences, Therapeutics, Depressive Disorder, Treatment-Resistant, Depressive Disorder, Major, Neuroinflammatory Diseases