Psycho-Babble Medication Thread 1099128

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Researchers identify new type of depression

Posted by PeterMartin on June 11, 2018, at 11:50:29

People who don't respond to monoamine medications.

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2018-06-depression_1.html

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Depression is a mental disorder that affects over 300 million people around the world. While treatments exist, many of them are based on one hypothesis of how depression arises. Patients that do not fit this mold may not be getting benefits. A study led by Hiroshima University (HU), which was published online this May in Neuroscience, sheds light on how one protein called RGS8 plays a role in depression behaviors.

Scientists think depression occurs because of the monoamine hypothesis, so named for the type of two chemicals that depressed people lack: serotonin and norepinephrine (NE). Ninety percent of antidepressant drugs are made based on this idea. They aim to recalibrate these two monoamines. For some of these patients, however, it may not be enough.

Thirty percent of people on these drugs do not experience an effect, according to Yumiko Saito and Yuki Kobayashi. Both are neuroscientists in HU's Graduate School of Integrated Arts and Sciences. "Obviously, we need a new drug. We need another explanation for what could cause depression."

This study builds upon previous work in which her team found that RGS8 controls a hormone receptor called MCHR1. Parts of the brain involved with movement and mood regulation show signs of RGS8 expression. MCHR1, when active, helps regulate sleep, feeding and mood responses. The researchers found that RGS8 inactivates MCHR1 in cultured cells.

Thus, the idea is that less RGS8 means increased depressed behavior. However, this effect had never been examined in a living organism. Here Saito's group studied depression in mice in two scopes: at the behavioral level, and at the immunohistological level.

First, the mice did a swim test, which is a common behavioral analysis method to assess depressive behaviors in animals. Researchers measure the time each mouse was active, then subtract it from the total test time, leaving researchers with an immobility time period.

Mice with more RGS8 in their nervous system recorded shorter immobility times than those with a normal amount of RGS8. When given an antidepressant drug that acts on monoamines, though, the RGS8 mice had even shorter immobility times. However, when the mice were given a drug that stops MCHR1 from working, immobility time did not change.

"These mice showed a new type of depression," Saito says. "Monoamines appeared not to be involved in this depressive behavior. Instead, MCHR1 was."

With that conclusion, the team looked at the mice's brains under the microscope to determine the relationship between MCHR1 and RGS8. More specifically, they examined the size of cilia sprouting from cells in a region of the hippocampus called the CA1, where RGS8 concentration was highest. Cilia are TV antennae-like organelles involved in cellular communication.

The team found that RGS8 mice not only had less depressed behavior than those without extra RGS8, but they also had longer cilia. That is, mice that took the drug that stopped MCHR1 from working had longer cilia.

In the past 10 years, scientists have observed that dysfunctional cilia are associated with disorders like obesity, kidney disease and retinal disease. Not much is known about their relationship with mood disorders. These findings led Saito's group to think that RGS8 is a promising candidate toward the development of new antidepressant drugs, which is a focus for future experiments.

Explore further: Insights into depression could aid development of new treatments

 

Re: Researchers identify new type of depression

Posted by bleauberry on June 11, 2018, at 12:07:21

In reply to Researchers identify new type of depression, posted by PeterMartin on June 11, 2018, at 11:50:29

I think it needs to be pointed out that while scientists claim to have identified a new type of depression, they haven't really identified any of the old ones.

Even worse, they have done absolutely nothing other than reuptake inhibition to address the terrible problem that ruins so many millions of lives.

I don't think any depressed patients care about a new kind or an old kind of depression. They just want scientists to provide some cures for a change! Hasn't happened.

 

Re: Researchers identify new type of depression

Posted by PeterMartin on June 11, 2018, at 15:32:26

In reply to Re: Researchers identify new type of depression, posted by bleauberry on June 11, 2018, at 12:07:21

Yea you're kinda right. Ultimately it's about money. It's a ton of money to develope these drugs and there's a risk.

My big hope is that something discovered for other purposes ends up working for depression. Or research in to the gut bacteria can be manipulated leads to novel attempts to cure moods.

At least this research might help companies revisit drug candidates that could be effective.

 

Re: Researchers identify new type of depression

Posted by linkadge on June 12, 2018, at 18:17:09

In reply to Re: Researchers identify new type of depression, posted by bleauberry on June 11, 2018, at 12:07:21

>I don't think any depressed patients care about a
>new kind or an old kind of depression.


I completely disagree. Traditional monoaminergic antidepressants work for many people. Other drugs like ketamine work for others. People who are still suffering, may benefit from drugs that can help treat different forms of depression.
I have been reading on this target recently, and it certainly shows some promise. It seems to have completely distinct effects (i.e. mice with disturbances in this system don't respond to traditional antidepressants, but do respond to MCHR1 antagonists.)


Linkadge

 

Re: Researchers identify new type of depression

Posted by linkadge on June 12, 2018, at 18:23:24

In reply to Re: Researchers identify new type of depression, posted by PeterMartin on June 11, 2018, at 15:32:26

Discovering the targets is the first step. Advances in genetic analysis have started to hone in on genetic regions associated with clinical depression.

Advances in one area of medicine can often help spur advances in another.

I am still doing very well on medical cannabis. I am feeling more optimistic than I have in a long time. I don't know what targets it is hitting, but I am feeling better.

Oftentimes a biochemical target is not a single point, it is any point in a long chain of events. In other words, finding a drug that can ehance or disrupt the process at any stage (from start to end) can produce a benefit.

Linkadge


 

Re: Researchers identify new type of depression » linkadge

Posted by beckett2 on June 14, 2018, at 19:35:07

In reply to Re: Researchers identify new type of depression, posted by linkadge on June 12, 2018, at 18:23:24


>
> I am still doing very well on medical cannabis. I am feeling more optimistic than I have in a long time. I don't know what targets it is hitting, but I am feeling better.
>

Good to hear.


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