Researchers have hone in on the mechanism by whichantidepressant drugslike Prozac work , and in doing so have identify a pathway for the discourse ofdepression , anxiety , and other mental health issue . Their research also revealed that a psyche protein name attic ( badly ) may be more efficacious than live medications at activate this pathway , and could therefore provide the basis for next drugs .
Several antidepressants are known to energize the creation of new nerve cell – orneurogenesis – in a brain region call thehippocampus , which is need in memory and emotion . However , scientists have fight to picture out exactly how these drugs bring about this core .
To inquire , a team of researcher treated lab mouse with a medicament call fluoxetine – the generic name for Prozac – and found that , among other things , it blocked the activity of a protein called hippocampal bone morphogenetic protein ( BMP ) . Normally , when BMP hold fast to certain brain receptor , it trip off a series of outcome that are thought to bring to the creation of newfangled neurons .
Explaining this finding in the journalMolecular Psychiatry , the study writer let out that fluoxetine causes this effect by increase the production of the protein noggin , which is a known BMP inhibitor . This led them to wonder if noggin itself could be used as an antidepressant drug .
Noggin embarrass MBP , lead in the introduction of unexampled neurons in the hippocampus . Andrii Vodolazhskyi / Shutterstock
In an seek to clarify this , they injected noggin into the mind of black eye that had been organize to get from slump , and found that this sparked a massive increase in hippocampal neurogenesis , superscript to that date with mostantidepressant drugs . This then led to a significant decrease in depressive symptom , which the researchers measured using a series of similar test .
One of these tests ask maintain the computer mouse by the tail and observing whether they had the need to assay and wriggle free , or simply gave up and dangled impotently . After being injected with dome , depressed mice became much more wriggly than those that did n’t get a shot of the protein , indicating that they had become less forlorn .
In another experimentation , mice were placed in a maze with both covered and open sections . cling to the sheltered areas rather than explore the expose regions is taken as a sign of anxiousness , and this propensity was majorly reduced in mice that received noggin .
All in all , the study authors believe that by inhibiting BMP signaling , noggin is responsible for the antidepressant effects of drug like Prozac , and that targeting this specific pathway could give more effective treatments for depression .
