A BRAIN protein newly linked to the waxing and waning of depression could be a key to treating this debilitating illness.
Depression is thought to be caused by some kind of breakdown in signalling by the brain chemical serotonin, and many antidepressants work by increasing the amount of serotonin available to cells. Now Paul Greengard of Rockefeller University in New York and his colleagues have found that a brain protein called p11 appears to make brain cells more receptive to serotonin. As levels of p11 rise, depression lifts in people and also in mice bred to be susceptible to depression.…
