Triggering Neurons Helps Build Resistance to Depression

Repeatedly activating neurons associated with stress-induced depression may actually help people develop a natural resistance to the emotional condition, researchers have suggested in a recent study.

According to a study published in the peer-reviewed journal Science, professionals could approach treating depression much like many doctors treat allergies, by triggering the body to build a resistance to its own adverse reactions.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, an estimated one in ten American adults claim to have some degree of depression. The most serious forms of depression are often created by hormone imbalances in the brain and even the result of adverse effects of severe stress.

Researcher theorized that much like allergies, regular exposure to the conditions of depression -- in this case the activation of neurons associated with stress-induced depression -- could desensitize the body to the conditions, effectively lowering the severity and likelihood of depression.

To determine if this could work, researchers used laser optics and gene virus transfer to increase signaling in the stress-related neurons of several mice.

Interestingly, the researchers found that after a short time the mice developed a resistance to adverse symptoms associated with the signaling, effectively allowing them to cope with stress without developing symptoms of depression. In-time, the hyperactivity of the neurons also normalized in the mice, surprising researchers.

Of course, to achieve this resilience to depression symptoms, the brains of the mice had to perform a very delicate balancing act -- trading the potential risks of increased stress for long-term benefits.

It will be a long time before similar experimentation is conducted on human subjects, but the authors of the study write that they hope that their work will lead to the eventual development of new antidepressant medication that can have life-long benefits for people who frequently suffer from social-stress induced depression.

The study was published in Science on April 18.