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Serotonin is one of several chemical messengers in the brain, or neurotransmitters, which help brain cells communicate with one another. Among many other functions, serotonin is involved in regulating mood. Problems with making or using the right amount of serotonin have been linked to many mental disorders, including depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety disorder, autism, and schizophrenia.

There are many genes that code for serotonin. Some of these genes guide serotonin production and other are involved in its activity. The serotonin transporter gene makes a protein that directs serotonin from the space between brain cells — where most neurotransmitters are relayed from one cell to another — back into cells, where it can be reused. Since the most widely prescribed class of medications for treating major depression acts by blocking this transporter protein, the gene has been a prime suspect in mood and anxiety disorders.

The serotonin transporter gene has many versions. Since everyone inherits a copy of this gene from each parent, a person may have two copies of the same version or one copy each of two different versions. One version of the serotonin transporter gene makes less protein, resulting in decreased transport of serotonin back into cells. This version has also long been the focus of depression research due to its suggested effect on risk.
Antidepressant treatment results in lower rate of MSIMI

Antidepressant treatment results in lower rate of MSIMI

Among patients with stable coronary heart disease and mental stress-induced myocardial ischemia (MSIMI), 6 weeks of treatment with the antidepressant escitalopram, compared with placebo, resulted in a lower rate of MSIMI, according to a study in the May 22/29 issue of JAMA. [More]
UTMB researchers awarded grant to study gene therapy techniques to eliminate neuropathic pain

UTMB researchers awarded grant to study gene therapy techniques to eliminate neuropathic pain

University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston researchers have been awarded a five-year, $1.8 million grant by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke to apply the techniques of gene therapy to the problem of neuropathic pain - that is, pain that arises from a malfunction in the nervous system. [More]

Patients with treatment-resistant depression benefit from ketamine

Patients with treatment-resistant major depression saw dramatic improvement in their illness after treatment with ketamine, an anesthetic, according to the largest ketamine clinical trial to-date led by researchers from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. [More]
Takeda, Lundbeck announce presentation of data from four studies that evaluate vortioxetine for MDD

Takeda, Lundbeck announce presentation of data from four studies that evaluate vortioxetine for MDD

Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited and H. Lundbeck A/S today announced that the companies will be presenting new data from four studies that evaluated effectiveness in treating the overall symptoms of depression in patients taking vortioxetine, an investigational agent under review with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of major depressive disorder. [More]
Depression and time perception: an interview with Dr Rachel Msetfi, University of Limerick

Depression and time perception: an interview with Dr Rachel Msetfi, University of Limerick

In clinical terms, depression is defined by the presence of a cluster of symptoms. The Diagnostic Manual used by many psychologists and psychiatrists cites nine symptoms of depression, of which five must be present for a two-week period. [More]
Findings could help develop new approaches to treat depression and memory loss in the elderly

Findings could help develop new approaches to treat depression and memory loss in the elderly

Scientists have known for some time that exercise induces neurogenesis in a specific brain region, the hippocampus. However, until this study, the underlying mechanism was not fully understood. [More]

New challenges to military medicine

Better body armor and rapid aeromedical evacuations enable American service members to survive blasts that would have proved fatal in Vietnam or even the first Gulf War, but they pose new challenges to military medicine - how to deal with the excruciating pain of injuries, especially severe burns from IED blasts that body armor can't protect. [More]
Peripheral neuropathic pain patch treatments: an interview with Anne Hodgkins, Astellas Pharma

Peripheral neuropathic pain patch treatments: an interview with Anne Hodgkins, Astellas Pharma

Peripheral neuropathic pain is caused by lesion or disease to the peripheral somatosensory nervous system. Nerve damage that can lead to peripheral neuropathic pain can happen as a result of a range of different diseases, medications or traumatic injuries. [More]
SSRIs associated with increased risk of bleeding, transfusion, readmission and death

SSRIs associated with increased risk of bleeding, transfusion, readmission and death

Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) - among the most widely prescribed antidepressant medications - are associated with increased risk of bleeding, transfusion, hospital readmission and death when taken around the time of surgery, according to an analysis led by researchers at UC San Francisco and Baystate Medical Center in Springfield, Mass. [More]
Alkermes reports topline results from phase 2 study of ALKS 5461 drug for major depressive disorder

Alkermes reports topline results from phase 2 study of ALKS 5461 drug for major depressive disorder

Alkermes plc (NASDAQ: ALKS) today announced positive preliminary topline results from a phase 2 study of ALKS 5461, its novel drug compound for major depressive disorder (MDD) in patients who have an inadequate response to standard therapies for clinical depression. [More]

FDA agrees to allow ADial to move forward with Phase III trial of AD04 for alcohol use disorder

ADial Pharmaceuticals, LLC, announced today that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has agreed to allow ADial to move forward with its plan to initiate Phase III trials of AD04 as a treatment for alcohol use disorder in certain targeted genotypes population only. [More]
REFRESH study: RP5063 shows promise for schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder

REFRESH study: RP5063 shows promise for schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder

Reviva Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a privately held drug discovery and development company, today announces top-line results from REFRESH, a phase 2 clinical trial of RP5063 for the treatment of schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder. [More]
Nine Nobel laureates to present their research at American Chemical Society meeting

Nine Nobel laureates to present their research at American Chemical Society meeting

At least nine Nobel laureates have research that will be presented here this week during the 245th National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society, the world's largest scientific society. [More]
Duloxetine drug alleviates pain from chemotherapy

Duloxetine drug alleviates pain from chemotherapy

Among patients with painful chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy, use of the anti-depressant drug duloxetine for 5 weeks resulted in a greater reduction in pain compared with placebo, according to a study in the April 3 issue of JAMA. [More]
Study shows why certain drugs that interact with serotonin receptors have harmful effects

Study shows why certain drugs that interact with serotonin receptors have harmful effects

A team including scientists from The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI), the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the Chinese Academy of Sciences has determined and analyzed the high-resolution atomic structures of two kinds of human serotonin receptor. [More]
Study reveals treatments for pain at site of injury may not always be good enough

Study reveals treatments for pain at site of injury may not always be good enough

Treatments for pain at the site of an injury may not always be good enough, according to a novel study by University of Maryland (UM) scientists reported March 20 in The Journal of Neuroscience. [More]

Alarming report on persistent side effects of antidepressant drugs published online

An alarming report from patient online websites on persistent side effects of antidepressant drugs has been published in one of the last issue of Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics by investigators from the University of Bologna and North America. [More]
SSRI antidepressants taken during pregnancy do not impact infant's growth over the first year

SSRI antidepressants taken during pregnancy do not impact infant's growth over the first year

Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) antidepressants taken by a woman during pregnancy do not impact her infant's growth over the first year, reports a new study from a Northwestern Medicine scientist. [More]

Study challenges role of serotonin in depression, opens possibilities for new therapies

A new study from the University of Maryland School of Medicine suggests that depression results from a disturbance in the ability of brain cells to communicate with each other. [More]

Study shows how oils and fats regulate feeling of satiety

Work groups at Technische Universit-t M-nchen under Prof. Peter Schieberle and at the University of Vienna under Prof. Veronika Somoza studied four different edible fats and oils: Lard, butterfat, rapeseed oil and olive oil. [More]