Abstract
This review will discuss multiple aspects of Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) and Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF) in terms of epigenetics and the use of natural substances as treatment options for MDD. It will be comprised of exploratory research with the purpose of proposing a framework. MDD is the main source of incapacity in developed nations (350 million individuals are affected around the world), with negative effects including a depressed state of mind, a loss of interest in everyday life and the loss of a sense of happiness, official dysfunctions, psychomotor impediments, suicide ideation, and disruption of eating and sleeping habits. Quality of life (QOL) decreases or vanishes completely and QOL treatments mostly fail. This review proposes that existing standard treatment protocols do not suffice in treating MDD, and shows that natural substances and cognitive enhancers that could improve patients’ mental capacities, such as drugs, supplements, nutraceuticals and utilitarian foods and supplements, should be considered as treatment options. Diagnosis of MDD is based on psychiatric education and experience and, unfortunately, there is still no standard test marker to diagnose the status of a patient’s mental health. As several studies have explored in detail and as this review will show, BDNF may be a reliable candidate for diagnosis and prognosis for MDD patients. This review mainly aims to contextualize and present the exogenous components that are capable of increasing BDNF levels in MDD patients, which are usually found to be low. Conventional drugs and standard medical approaches to MDD have come up short but translational medicine could offer an important and groundbreaking tool in assessing and treating patients. This review will present the applications of natural substances as tools of translational medicine in detail as far as the limited data permits. Psychiatrists and translational medicine experts should work together to treat MDD and other psychiatric conditions and focus on possible interactions between pharmacological and natural treatments that share the same pathways in the P450 gene in the liver. The importance of natural compounds and their applications for depression needs to be revisited (Am J Transl Med 2020. 4:182-196).