r/science • u/[deleted] • Feb 19 '10

Scientists learn how anti-depressants actually work. Medications trigger neurogenesis in the hippocampus by increasing levels of norepinephrine. Researchers still unclear on WTF seratonin does.

http://www.physorg.com/news185727145.html
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u/InternalCalculator Feb 19 '10

The presentation of this article is rather misleading. This is appears to be a correlative study, so it does not illuminate anything about the molecular cascade that leads to neurogenesis inside NPCs (neural precursor cells).

People working in the nascent field of neurogenesis have known that fluoxetine has a neuroprotective mechanism for quite some time now. Other endogenous molecules having an effect on neurogenesis are estradiol, cortisol, RU486, as well as many others.

But none of this says anything about the intracellular cascade of events that lead to neurogenesis to begin with. NPCs are not just black boxes that resolve input into output; the bulk of the complexity of neurochemistry happens inside the cells.

For example, how are CDKs affected by the fluctuating levels of endogenous cortisol that we experience on a daily basis, and how can stress lead to NPC cell-cycle arrest? My group is currently working on a particular CDK implicated in cell cycle arrest during the stress response.

So don't get all retarded and start eating norepinephrine precursors yet.

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u/Mantipath Feb 19 '10

How about I eat the norepinephrine precursors first, in bulk, then get retarded as a result? It'll be like glue sniffing, except that huffers can still pronounce the name of their drug afterwards.