Science and fashion: inflammation and oxidative stress in psychiatry

Excerpt

Science is not immune to fashion, and from time to time, some topics become very trendy in different areas of medicine. The booming interest in inflammation and oxidative stress in medical research in the last decade is a good example. Areas such as oncology and cardiology have taken the lead regarding interest in the role of inflammatory and oxidative stress markers as signs of underlying pathophysiology and their potential therapeutic implications. Psychiatry has followed that lead, and the number of papers addressing immune/inflammatory and oxidative/nitrosative markers has burgeoned in recent years. Many studies show a relationship between these markers, in the form of an imbalance between pro- and anti-inflammatory activity, and almost any psychiatric disorder [1‐4]. Two papers in this issue deal with oxidative disorders in different psychiatric disorders. …