GFAP and major depressive disorder: Torres-Platas et al. (2011) demonstrates a hypertrophy in white matter astrocytes in studies from post mortem samples of anterior cingulate cortex of suicide subjects. This observation corroborates data showing inflammatory processes underlying MDD pathology (Maes et al., 2009; Rajkowska and Stockmeier, 2013). In general, apart from data associated with aging or inflammation, there is a decrease in GFAP expression and other related glial markers in brain areas associated with mood disorders (Smialowska et al., 2013).