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August 24, 2006

A brave new world

Forget the Soma. Soon they'll just flip genes on the deltas to make them happy as they clean the sewers.

A new breed of permanently 'cheerful' mouse is providing hope of a new treatment for clinical depression. TREK-1 is a gene that can affect transmission of serotonin in the brain. Serotonin is known to play an important role in mood, sleep and sexuality. By breeding mice with an absence of TREK-1, researchers were able create a depression-resistant strain. The details of this research, which involved an international collaboration with scientists from the University of Nice, France, are published in Nature Neuroscience this week.

Posted by OneEyedMan at August 24, 2006 5:24 PM

Comments

It seems like blocking this gene would make mood-less mice rather than "cheerful" mice simply because they are unable to be depressed. Did they comment on the new mood of the mouse? And do you know what kind of tests they preformed to evaluate mood? Also, did they comment on the sexuality? I wonder if their sexual preference changes or if they become indifferent to sex.

I wonder if this gene is a good candidate for drug therapy. It seems like blocking this gene will affect many biological functions. Perhaps low doses can affect mood without affecting too much else. Or maybe with further research they can find genes that genetically interact with TREK-1 that have more specificity to mood.

Posted by: BlueEyedGirl [TypeKey Profile Page] at September 1, 2006 12:09 PM

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