New antidepressant target discovered
The investigators showed decreasing a set of proteins called HCN channels reduced depression-like behavior in mice. If replicated in humans, the findings could inform fresh therapies for millions of patients who do not respond to existing treatments for depression. "Drugs currently available for treating depression help most patients, but they stop working for some patients and don't work from the get-go for others," said senior author Dr. Dane Chetkovich, ?a professor of neurology and of physiology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and a Northwestern Medicine neurologist. "There is a real need for new therapies to help patients desperate for alternatives to the available therapeutic options." The study will be published July 12 in the journal Molecular Psychiatry . Most existing antidepressants affect mood and emotions by increasing levels of neurotransmitters called monoamines, namely serotonin, dopamine and norepinephrine . But t...