Researchers may now be able to develop more effective therapies for a variety of mood disorders after discovering a common trigger at play in these conditions.
Studies published suggest that glycine, a prevalent amino acid and important neurotransmitter, may have a role in various mood disorders, notably major depressive disorder. Understanding the mechanism underlying this took years of study at the Herbert Wertheim UF Scripps Institute for Biomedical Innovation and Technology.
Kirill Martemyanov, one of the study’s lead authors, set out with his team to better understand how vision, sensation, cognition, and behavior are regulated through the various sensors in the brain cells that send and receive signals.
Throughout the course of their research, the group discovered a novel glycine receptor that had a role in stress-induced depression. Mice that lacked the gene for the receptor, which the researchers at first labeled as GPR158, were better able to withstand the long-term effects of stress than mice who had the gene.
When the team proceeded with its investigation, it found that the GPR158 receptor seemed to be a little clamp that had a segment within it. This is a structure that is often observed in bacteria rather than in human cells.
Maremyanoc stated, “We were barking up the completely wrong tree before we saw the structure. We said, ‘Wow, that’s an amino acid receptor.’ There are only 20, so we screened them right away and only one fit perfectly. That was it. It was glycine.”
The researchers discovered that when the molecule attaches to glycine, it really has an inhibitory effect on the reaction. As a result of this, scientists gave it the new name “mGlyR,” which is an abbreviation for “metabotropic glycine receptor.”
The researchers were able to determine that glycine, and not a similar modulator known as taurine, functions through mGlyR to alter the level of neuronal activity in the cortex. This finding indicates that the team discovered a significant mechanism that has a role in modulating the metabotropic impacts of glycine, which play a role in cognition and emotions.
This new research contributes to previous knowledge regarding the biological underpinnings of mood disorders and may have substantial consequences for patients, particularly in light of the fact that the number of people suffering from serious depression has increased over the past few years. The majority of drugs for depression take at least a few weeks to start working, and the prospect of a treatment that works more quickly might be transformative for people’s lives.
There are a number of potential triggers for mood disorders. There isn’t always a single cause. However, sometimes the causes are more obvious, such as a lack of sleep or excessive alcohol consumption. One characteristic shared by all mood disorders is that they prompt abnormal behavior.
Without prompt treatment, these disorders can:
- Disrupt personal and professional lives
- Negatively affect health
- Deplete resources
- increase the risk of suicide.
It is estimated that nearly 22% of individuals in the U.S. will suffer from some kind of mood disorder at some point in their lives.
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