Plasma levels of tumor necrosis factor-alpha and interleukin-6 in obsessive compulsive disorder.

AIM: Recent research implicated place of an immune mechanism in the pathophysiology of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Despite increasing evidence involvement of cytokine release in OCD, results of the studies are inconsistent. The aim of this study was to evaluate the plasma levels of the cytokines; tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) and interleukin-6 (IL-6) in OCD patients. METHODS: Plasma concentrations of TNF-alpha and IL-6 were measured in 31 drug-free outpatients with OCD, and 31-year age and sex-matched healthy controls. TNF-alpha and IL-6 concentrations in blood were determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). RESULTS: Both TNF-alpha and IL-6 levels showed statistically significant increases in OCD patients compared to controls (P < .000, P < .001, resp.). In addition, the age of onset was negatively correlated with TNF-alpha level (r = -.402, P = .025) and duration of illness was weakly correlated with IL-6 levels (r: .357; P: .048) in patients group. CONCLUSION: OCD patients showed increases in TNF-alpha and IL-6 levels compared to the healthy controls. This study provides evidence for alterations in the proinflammatory cytokines which suggest the involvement of the immune system in the pathophysiology of OCD.

Frontal lobe epilepsy presented as ictal aggression.

Aggressive behaviour is rarely observed as an ictal semiology. Ictal aggression can occur in lesions of frontal and limbic structures. In limbic structure lesions, the main mechanism of aggressive behaviour is hyperactivity; whereas frontal lesions may cause aggressive behaviour with an indirect mechanism in which the suppression on limbic system is lost. Here we present a patient with ictal aggression. In this case a right frontoparietal epileptiform focus was detected during the postictal period. Magnetic resonance imaging showed cortical dysplasia on the right inferior frontal gyrus. The seizures disappeared completely after pharmacological treatment.