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That look of " oh , bummer , " is linked with a rather uncommon type of brain signaling , new research shows . The determination could chair to a new class of drug to treat low , researchers say .
That downer feeling involves the finely tune , coincident firing of two different neurotransmitter in the wit . It is the ratio of the two neurotransmitters — one enhance and onedampening positivist smell — that determine where on the disappointment spectrum you ’ll fall , from " oh well " to " total bummer . "
The scientists call this double firing of neurotransmitter , which set off the human sense of dashing hopes , a " dimmer switch " — essentially the neurochemical underpinnings for calling the proverbial shabu of water half empty or half full .
Such dual firing of neurotransmitters is a rare case in the brain . scientist know of only two other situations in which the brain uses a coinciding compounding of excitatory and inhibitory neurotransmitters , and neither of those site involves mood . [ Top 10 Mysteries of the Mind ]
The study was published Sept. 18 in the diary Science .
How letdown bring
Neurotransmitters are chemicals that relay signals from one neuron to the next . The brain and nervous arrangement utilise rafts of neurotransmitters to enable thought process and cause . Someneurotransmitters , such as Dopastat and serotonin , are well - get it on to be associated with mood . Neurons usually produce only one kind of neurotransmitter , rarely two .
In the new field , a team of scientist led by Dr. Roberto Malinow , a prof of neurobiology at the University of California , San Diego School of Medicine , found that two well - known neurotransmitters — glutamate and GABA , which is unretentive for gamma - aminobutyric loony toons — are released simultaneously by nerve cell in a small realm of the brain called the sidelong habenula to signal the emotion of disappointment .
" The more glutamate is released proportional to GABA , the great the ' letdown ' signal in the learning ability is potential to be ; and the less glutamate is exhaust relative to GABA , the minor the ' disappointment ' sign should be , " said Dr. Steven Shabel , a postdoctoral student in Malinow ’s science laboratory and the lead author of the new report .
old studies have shown thatdepressionis relate to neural activity in the lateral habenula . And experiments with monkey have shown that activity in the lateral habenula increases markedly when the monkeys are have a bun in the oven a sip of fruit juice or other payoff but do n’t get it — that " bummer " spirit .
In the Modern oeuvre , the researchers studied rodents . They demonstrated that the neurons of rodents with expression of human economic crisis get less GABA relative to glutamate , compared with rodents without natural depression . Also , when the animals with depression were give an antidepressant drug to produce their brains ' 5-hydroxytryptamine degree , their proportional GABA horizontal surface increased — a sign that they were less defeated after being denied their reward .
" Our subject area suggests that one of the ways in which serotonin alleviates economic crisis is by rebalancing the brain ’s processing ofnegative life eventsthrough the balance of glutamate and GABA in the habenula , " Shabel said . " We may now have a exact neurochemical account for why antidepressants make some people more resilient to negative experience . "
That have in mind antidepressant are likely to work on this glutamate - GABA ratio , but in ways that are hard to check from mortal to somebody , he said . The researchers said that if they could get medications that target the sidelong habenula more selectively , then they might have a good treatment for depression .
Several currentantidepressant drugs mark serotonin , but the neurotransmitter is used by the brain and fundamental nervous system for many sort of tasks other than mood , such as for controlling sleep , memory and appetency , so the drug do n’t roleplay selectively on depression . Glutamate and GABA also are used for a smorgasbord of brain tasks , and thus are not good targets for drugs , Shabel said .
But focusing on how to manipulate this new discover chemical mechanism of competing neurotransmitters might be a promising avenue that lead to the discovery of a new genesis of antidepressant , the researchers said .
