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Ever-Happy Mouse Sheds Light on Depression
An anonymous reader writes "Scientists have bred a strain of mouse that's permanently cheerful, in hopes of better understanding and treating depression in people. By breeding mice lacking the TREK-1 gene, which is involved in serotonin transmission, researchers were able create a depression-resistant strain. They say it's the first time depression has been eliminated through genetic alteration of an organism."
TREK-1 has an important role in neuroprotection against epilepsy and brain and spinal chord ischemia. So there are some very adverse side effects to this.
The article seems very light. There's lots of interesting stuff to be found if you google for "trek-1 gene".
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One way is the 'forced swim test'. They put the mouse in a water tank from which it can't escape. The animal will normaly swim around trying to find a way out. If it is depressed it will tend to give up on swiming and spend long periods of time without moving. Another way is the 'tail suspension test'. It is prety much the same thing. The mouse is suspended on its tail. If it is depressed it won't give a shit about life and will just hang there. Give it some antidepresenats and it will move and try to escape a lot more actively.
People on anti-depressants are not "non-challant" about everything so long as they take their pills. This statement shows a profound misunderstanding of what modern anti-depressents are like. As someone who been taking anti-depressents for most of my life (very long family history of it, suicides everywhere on my family tree), I would like to point out that these are not happy pills, mothers little helpers that makes you stop caring about the world. This is a common belief and one that is simply not true. I feel a full range of emotions like any other person, and the emotional side effects aside from the alteration of the depression is quite small. In fact, I feel MORE emotion that I would off my medication becuase depression tends to overpower other emotions. This was not as true with older varieties of anti-depressents, but the modern SSRI's http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SSRI have a minimal inhibitive effect on the range, duration, and power of my negative emotions aside from depression. Even more, I actually CAN get depressed even with the medications if the circumstances of my life dictate it. The ending of a relationship, loss of a loved one or whatever else might get a normal person depressed have the same effect on me. However, it is now short term and recoverable, that is, normal.
Society should think of modern anti-depressents as you would a prosthetic for a person born without a leg. Although unnatural, it corrects a problem, bringing sufferers closer to "normal". Of course, becuase you cannot SEE my handicap, people assume that it is not there, and my condition is a character flaw or choice. This is not true, I have no control over it just as a schizophrenic has no choice in the perception of their hallucinations. Not everyone who is depressed needs these aids, but for sufferers of long term, chronic depression these medications are lifesavers, quite literally. Research and discoveries like those in the article bolster my confidence that future treatments will bring me even closer to normal.
I am surpremely grateful that I live in the age of modern psychopharmacology, I am quite positive that I would not be here if it did not exist.