Translation from Dagens Nyheter ( biggest newspaper in Sweden)

http://www.dn.se/DNet/jsp/polopoly.jsp?d=597&a=510834&previousRenderType=6

http://www.sciencemag.org/sciencexpress/recent.dtl

The swedish neuropharmacologist Per Svenningsson has discovered a connection between to functions in the brain. The findings can be a breakthrough in the understanding of depression.

Depression is a common desease affecting 50% of women and 25% of the men sometime during the lifecourse. In Sweden the costs of pharmacological treatment of depression only , exceeds 100 miljon $. In an upcoming article in this weeks Science magazine Per Svenningsson reveals that he has identified a proteine involved with the regulation of the serotonine receptor and that this specific proteine is changed in people with depression. The serotonine system in the brain is strongly linked to depression.

Svenningssons findings will be published in this weeks issue of Science.

It is quite possible that the proteine in question is involved in the origin of depression. Svenningssons hypothesis is that a shortage of the proteine is causing a deterioration in the function of the serotoninesystem which can lead to depression.

This is the first time anyone has been able to connnect alterations in the serotoninesystem with a causative agent. It is possible that the findings can lead to improvement in the treatment of depression.

The neurotransmittors are working in a circulation system where the transmittors are released and reuptaked by the neural cells in order to regulate the signals in the brain. In the depressed individual serotonine and norepinephrine levels are reduced below normal which leads to signaling gets stopped. The strategy thus far has been to elevate the levels of the neurotransmittors mentioned. In the future it might be possible to influence the serotoninesystem where it actually fails.

Treatment of today elevates the serotonine levels in all the brain and there are 15 different receptors treatment acts upon. If this proteine has a key role in the cause of depression , it might be possible to develop a medicine in the future , targeting the very specific receptor this proteine regulates with lesser sideeffects as a result.

There are still lots of research to be done of course and it is likely there are unidentyfied proteines and genes involved in the cause of depression.

I do believe that my strategy of specifically studying the mechanisms behind the illness will lead to better treatment options in the future - says Per Svenningsson.

In a commentary in the same issue of the Science magazine , neuropharmacologist Trevor Sharp at the Oxford University states that in the case that Svenningssons findings proves valid , it is a major breakthrough in the understanding of the depression mechanisms.

Ulf Brettstam

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