Nature Neuroscience:研究发现抑郁症遗传相关基因
一种永远处于“Happy”状态的小鼠，为抑郁症的临床治疗提供了新的思路。已知血清素（serotonin ）在控制情绪、睡眠和性欲过程中发挥重要作用，研究发现血清素在大脑中的传播与TREK-1基因有关。通过培育TREK-1基因缺陷小鼠，由法国Nice大学研究人员研制出一种抑郁抗性品系（depression-resistant strain）小鼠。研究细节刊登于本周Nature Neuroscience。
论文作者、MUHC 精神病专家Guy Debonnel博士说：“抑郁症是一种常见疾病，据调查显示美国大约有9.5％的成年人会在他们生命的某个阶段遭受抑郁症的侵袭。目前临床使用的治疗药物对其中1/3的病例都是无效的，因此寻找新的治疗途径势在必行。”
在Debonnel实验室，Debonnel和Michel Lazdunski共同培养得到TREK-1基因缺陷小鼠，随后分别用衡量动物“抑郁”的标准行为学、电生理学和生物化学指标对这些基因缺陷小鼠进行测量。结果令研究人员大为惊喜：至少三周内，这些基因缺陷小鼠的行为如同被接受过“抗抑郁”药物治疗。
这项研究结果首次证明抑郁症可以通过遗传学手段消除。“抑郁症与TREK-1基因的关系的阐明有助于研发新一代抗抑郁药品。”
英文原文：
Happy mice used in depression study
By breeding mice with an absence of TREK-1 -- a gene that can affect serotonin transmission in the brain -- researchers were able create a depression-resistant strain.
"Depression is a devastating illness, which affects around 10 percent of people at some point in their life," said Dr. Guy Debonnel, a psychiatrist and professor at McGill University in Montreal.
Debonnel, principal author of the new research, notes current medications for clinical depression are ineffective for a third of patients, which is why the development of alternate treatments is so important.
The so-called knock-out mice were created in collaboration with Michel Lazdunski, co-author of the research, in his laboratory at the University of Nice, France.
"These 'knock-out' mice were then tested using separate behavioral, electrophysiological and biochemical measures known to gauge 'depression' in animals," said Debonnel. "The results really surprised us; our 'knock-out' mice acted as if they had been treated with antidepressants for at least three weeks."
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