Molecular Uniqueness of Major Depression: Biological Remarks and Theoretical Implications

Abstract

The identification of three platelet fatty acids (Palmitic, Linoleic and Arachidonic Acids) brought about some subsequent classification hypotheses on Major Depression and Bipolar Disorder, which, with the passing of time, have turned into established experimental data also concerning the concepts of serotonin uptake on the basis of membrane viscosity, and showed that platelets were really similar to neurons. This evidence, together with the chance of classifying the two main mood disorders, led to some reflections on the molecular uniqueness of Major Depression, understood as a phenomenon affecting only human beings, and precisely just part of them. In this context, we can trace the human states between normality, Bipolar Disorder and Major Depression, this latter considered as a bio-molecular and existential niche.