Unravelling the mysteries of depressive illness

Shanaz Tejani-Butt

Unravelling the mysteries of depressive illness

Shanaz Tejani-Butt

University of the Sciences in Philadelphia, USA

: J Pharm Drug Deliv

Abstract

Clinical depression is a serious disorder that interferes more with social and physical functioning than do other chronic illnesses such as hypertension, diabetes and arthritis. Stress is considered to be responsible for producing motivational, cognitive and emotional deficits synonymous with depression, and supports the stress-depression connection underscoring the need for an animal model of endogenous depression. Biogenic amine neurotransmitters are considered to be important players in depression as they are involved in regulating mood, alertness, sleep, memory and emotional behaviour. Even though a large number of antidepressant drugs are available for clinical use, the mechanism by which these drugs alter biogenic amine modulation in the brain to alleviate depressive symptoms is not clearly understood. Our research has revealed the importance of using an appropriate animal model to study the role of stress on the induction of depressive illness and related disorders, offering a translational application to human psychiatric disorders. Using the Wistar-Kyoto rat strain as an appropriate animal model, we have uncovered several behavioural and neurochemical differences that appear to be linked to altered neurotransmission in discrete regions of the brain.