A faster way to treat depression has come closer to reality!

Image for representational purpose only

Washington DC: Now, a faster way to treat depression has come closer to reality, thanks to a team of scientists at University of California San Diego School of Medicine.

They have discovered an enzyme called Glyoxalase 1 (GLO1) that help relieves signs of depression in mice.

And moreover, this inhibiting GLO1 worked much faster than the conventional antidepressant Prozac.

The findings have provided a target for the development of a completely new class of faster-acting antidepressant medications.

Senior author Abraham Palmer, "Depression affects at least one in six of us at some point in our lifetime, and better treatments are urgently needed".

He added, "A better understanding of the molecular and cellular underpinnings of depression will help us find new ways to inhibit or counteract its onset and severity."

Palmer and team unraveled a previously underappreciated molecular process that can influence mouse models of depression.

Here`s how the process works: Cells generate energy. In doing so, they produce a byproduct. That byproduct inhibits neurons and thus influences various behaviors.

Typically, the enzyme GLO1 removes this byproduct, but inhibiting GLO1 can also increase the activity of certain neurons in a beneficial way.

In mice, Palmer and others have shown that more GLO1 activity makes mice more anxious, but less was known about the system`s effect on depression.While this new approach to treating depression has so far only been tested in mice and it will take many years of development before a GLO1 inhibitor could be tested in humans, the researchers are excited to find that new, unexplored approaches to treating depression are out there.

"There are currently no approved fast-acting antidepressants, so finding something like this is unusual," said co-author Stephanie Dulawa.

The study was published in journal Molecular Psychiatry.

(With ANI inputs)