Scientists Identify Genetic Risk for Major Depression
Major depression is a psychiatric disorder responsible for decreased work productivity and can even lead to suicide. Dr. Martin A. Kohli from the Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry in Munich, Germany says that "Current treatments for major depression are indispensible but their clinical efficacy is still unsatisfactory, as reflected by high rates of treatment resistance and side effects. Identification of mechanisms causing depression is pertinent for discovery of better antidepressants." Dr. Kohli and colleagues performed a study of patients diagnosed with major depression and matched control subjects with no history of psychiatric illness. They identified SLC6A15, a gene that codes for a neuronal amino acid transporter protein, as a novel susceptibility gene for major depression. Already nondepressed subjects carrying the risk-conferring genetic variants showed lower expression of SLC6A15 in the hippocampus, a brain region implicated in major depression. Finally, using human brain imaging, risk variant carriers with a positive life history of major depression showed smaller hippocampi. Lower hippocampal SLC6A15 expression was linked to the effects of chronic social stress, a proven risk factor for depression.
I believe that this a significant discovery in the field of brain science. This discovery will most likely lead to new findings in unstudied parts of the brain. The finding will also probably lead to a new anti depressant drug that is more effective that current drugs on the market. More and more teens and adults die every year from depression provoked suicide. Hopefully, a new anti depressant will help cure these severely depressed people and further reduce the amount of unnecessary deaths. Overall, this subject should be researched in more detail in order to find effective cures for serious mental conditions.
Citations:
ScienceDaily. "Scientists Identify Genetic Risk for Major Depression."
Science Daily. N.p., n.d. Web. 4 May 2011.
<http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/04/110427131816.htm>.
I believe that this a significant discovery in the field of brain science. This discovery will most likely lead to new findings in unstudied parts of the brain. The finding will also probably lead to a new anti depressant drug that is more effective that current drugs on the market. More and more teens and adults die every year from depression provoked suicide. Hopefully, a new anti depressant will help cure these severely depressed people and further reduce the amount of unnecessary deaths. Overall, this subject should be researched in more detail in order to find effective cures for serious mental conditions.
Citations:
ScienceDaily. "Scientists Identify Genetic Risk for Major Depression."
Science Daily. N.p., n.d. Web. 4 May 2011.
<http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/04/110427131816.htm>.
