New! Sign up for our free email newsletter.
Science News
from research organizations

Fine-tuning Treatments For Depression

Date:
December 24, 2009
Source:
Georgetown University Medical Center
Summary:
New research clarifies how neurotransmitters like norepinephrine, serotonin, and dopamine, are regulated -- a finding that may help fine-tune therapies for depression.
Share:
FULL STORY

New research clarifies how neurotransmitters like norepinephrine, serotonin, and dopamine, are regulated -- a finding that may help fine-tune therapies for depression.

Current drugs for depression target the regulatory process for neurotransmitters, and while effective in some cases, do not appear to work in other cases.

Recent findings suggest that synucleins, a family of small proteins in the brain, are key players in the management of neurotransmitters -- specifically, alpha- and gamma-synuclein. Additionally, researchers have found elevated levels of gamma-synuclein in the brains of both depressed animals and humans.

In a study presented at the 39th annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience, Georgetown University Medical Center researchers observed increased depressive-like behavior in mice where gamma-synuclein acts alone to regulate neurotransmitters, confirming earlier studies by this group.

"These findings show the importance of, and clarify a functional role for, gamma synuclein in depression and may provide new therapeutic targets in treatment of this disease," says Adam Oaks, a student researcher in the Laboratory of Molecular Neurochemistry at GUMC. "Understanding how current therapies work with the synucleins is important because the drugs don't work for all patients, and some are associated with side effects including an increased risk of suicide."

The study was funded by grants from the National Institutes of Health. A provision patent application has been filed by Georgetown University related to the technology described in this paper, on which Anita Sidhu, one of the authors, is an inventor.


Story Source:

Materials provided by Georgetown University Medical Center. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.


Cite This Page:

Georgetown University Medical Center. "Fine-tuning Treatments For Depression." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 24 December 2009. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/10/091018141554.htm>.
Georgetown University Medical Center. (2009, December 24). Fine-tuning Treatments For Depression. ScienceDaily. Retrieved March 29, 2024 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/10/091018141554.htm
Georgetown University Medical Center. "Fine-tuning Treatments For Depression." ScienceDaily. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/10/091018141554.htm (accessed March 29, 2024).

Explore More

from ScienceDaily

RELATED STORIES