--抑郁症在美国每年大概会造成830亿美元的财产损失和医疗支出。因此如何治疗这种精神疾病成为学术界和生物技术企业所关注的焦点。然而现有的一些药物可能会使患者产生用药依赖从而威胁患者的健康。来自耶鲁大学医药学院的Dr. Gerard Sanacora最近发现一种潜在的谷氨酸类药物分子有望成为新的抗抑郁症药物，使占全美人口9。1%的抑郁症患者受益。这类物质能够作用于大脑的谷氨酸系统，这一系统在神经系统额信息传递中起着重要作用。在动物模型上，研究人员考察了谷氨酸系统对神经系统的影响以及对脑部分子、细胞乃至动物行为的影响以及环境、外界压力等因素对这一系统的影响。这一结果发表在European College of Neuropsychopharmacology Congress会议上。

详细英文报道：

Mood disorders are a huge economic burden on the U.S. economy--depression costs an estimated $83 billion in lost productivity and increased medical expenses.

But a class of drugs known as glutamatergic agents may one day offer relief to the 9.1% of Americans who suffer from depression per year. These agents act on the glutamate system of the brain, one of the two major amino acid systems that aids information processing in networks of neurons.

Dr. Gerard Sanacora, a professor of psychiatry and the director of the Yale Depression Research Program at the Yale School of Medicine, presented new research on the promise of glutamatergic agents in treating mood and anxiety disorders at the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology Congress in Barcelona.

"There is a rapidly expanding literature suggesting the glutamatergic neurotransmitter system is altered in the brains of individuals suffering with mood disorders," Sanacora said in a statement.

Sanacora and his team have used animal models to help understand how stress and other environmental factors can disrupt glutamatergic function and cause molecular, cellular and behavioral changes in the brain that are typical of depression.

In rodent models, the team found that stress has a major impact on the function of glutamate neurotransmission, which seems to be related to behavioral changes. The research could help scientists develop new drugs for regulating mood disorders, which have historically been difficult to treat.

The research has been accepted for publication in Molecular Psychiatry.