Depression is a complex condition correlated with multiple differences in brain function and mechanisms. A new paper spanning known data about the neurotransmitter GABA and its principal receptors showcases evidence of the receptors’ importance in depression and potential as therapeutic targets.
Based on evidence from research on the receptors’ function in the brain and the drugs that can activate or inhibit them, the authors propose possible mechanisms by which GABA-modulating treatments could help address the cognitive and affective symptoms associated with depression.
Authors Bernhard Luscher of Penn State University, Jamie Maguire of Tufts University, Uwe Rudolph of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and Etienne Sibille of the University of Toronto and the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health published their paper in the journal Trends in Pharmacological Sciences.
Most currently available antidepressant drugs are designed to increase the function of the neurotransmitter serotonin, said Rudolph, a professor of comparative biosciences at Illinois. However, over the past two decades or so, research has shown depression and its symptoms to be complex, with the neurotransmitter GABA and its main receptor, GABA-A, playing an important, though not well understood, role.
Defects in the function of GABA and its principal receptors have long been suspected of contributing to depressive disorders.”
Bernhard Luscher, professor of biology, biochemistry and molecular biology, and psychiatry at Penn State
His group