[Gender characteristics of depressive disorders: clinical, psychological, neurobiological and translational aspects]. / Gendernye osobennosti depressivnykh rasstroistv: kliniko-psikhologicheskie, neirobiologicheskie i translyatsionnye aspekty.

Various studies have indicated that the prevalence of depression is almost twice as high among women as among men. A major factor associated with the development of depression and other affective disorders are adverse and psychologically traumatic life events that contribute to changes in the neuroendocrine system, altering the capacity to adapt to stress. These changes are involved in the pathogenesis of mental disorders, along with genetic and other factors, and are to a significant degree regulated by gender dependent mechanisms. While women have a high prevalence of depressive disorders, men show a higher rate of alcohol and substance abuse. These differences in the epidemiology are most likely explained by different predisposition to mental disorders in men and women and a diversity of biological consequences to adverse life events. Taking this into account, there is a need for a critical review of currently used approaches to modeling depressive disorders in preclinical studies, including the use of animals of both sexes. Adaptation of experimental models and protocols taking into account gender characteristics of neuroendocrine changes in response to stress, as well as structural-morphological, electrophysiological, molecular, genetic and epigenetic features, will significantly increase the translational validity of experimental work.

[Neurophysiological peculiarities of cognitive activity in patients anxiety-depressive and hypochondriacal disorders]. / Neirofiziologicheskie osobennosti kognitivnoi deiatel'nosti u patsientov s trevozhno-depressivnymi i ipokhondricheskimi rasstroistvami.

AIM: To study neurophysiological features of the cognitive activity in patients with anxiety-depressive and hypochondriacal disorders. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The study included 65 people: 16 with hypochondriacal disorder, 23 with mixed anxiety and depressive disorder, and 26 control subjects. Heart rate variability method and electroencephalography were used. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: There was a decrease in the beta-1 frequency range in EEG after performing cognitive test in patients with mixed anxiety and depressive disorder. Patients with hypochondriacal disorder had the reduced duration of RR intervals; increased beta-1 frequency range in the resting state; the increase in the dominant beta-2 frequency during the cognitive test, and in the standard deviation of theta-wave frequencies after the cognitive test.

[Effects of childhood trauma on the biochemical correlates of stress in men and women with nonpsychotic mental disorders]. / Vliianie travmatizatsii v detskom vozraste na biologicheskie korreliaty stressa u muzhchin i zhenshchin s pogranichnymi psikhicheskimi rasstroistvami.

AIM: To investigate gender differences in biochemical characteristics in patients with nonpsychotic mental disorders, and to study their association with childhood trauma. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Women (n=308) and men (92) between 18 and 45 years of age, without serious somatic comorbidities, were examined. Laboratory evaluation included markers of hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis activity (cortisol), hypothalamic-pituitary-thyroid system (TSH), proinflammatory cytokines (Il-1ß and Il-6) and the brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF). All participants underwent psychometric testing, which included the Child Abuse and Trauma Scale (CATS), Beck and Hamilton depression scale (HAM-D) and Spielberger Anxiety Inventory (STAI). Correlations were studied between the biochemical parameters and total CATS scores and severity of depression and anxiety in subgroups of women and men with a depressive disorder. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: The men and women in the total study population significantly differed by representation of the different diagnostic classes, which was reflected by differing levels of depressive and anxiety symptoms. The main finding was a correlation between the level of childhood trauma and morning serum cortisol levels in men with depressive disorder, which was absent in women.