Clipping of news on Brazilian Culture, Law and Citizenship
01/18/2013
This article was translated by an automatic translation system, and was therefore not reviewed by people.
Researchers have established link between high levels of stress hormone in adolescence and genetic changes that, in adulthood, causing severe mental disorders in individuals predispost
Scientists at Johns Hopkins University, U.S., have discovered a link between stress and mental disorders in adolescence into adulthood in mice with a genetic predisposition to this disorder.
The findings, published in the journal Science, could have implications for both the prevention and the treatment of schizophrenia, severe depression and other mental illnesses.
"We found a mechanism for how environmental factors, such as stress hormones, can affect the physiology of the brain and cause mental illness. Showed that stress in rats during adolescence can affect the expression of a gene encoding a key neurotransmitter related with mental function and psychiatric diseases, "said study leader Akira Sawa.
Sawa and his colleagues isolated and healthy mice with a genetic predisposition to develop mental illness for three weeks, a period equivalent to the rodent adolescence.
The results showed that the insulation no effect on the behavior of healthy mice. The animals with genetic predisposition exhibited behaviors associated with mental illness, such as hyperactivity.
When mice with genetic risk factors have been returned to socializing with other animals, they continued to show abnormal behavior.
According to the researchers, the findings suggest that the effects of isolation lasted until the equivalent of adulthood.
The researchers not only found that mice "mentally ill" had elevated levels of cortisol (aka the stress hormone), but also have lower levels of the neurotransmitter dopamine in a specific region of the brain linked to functions such as cognition and emotional control.
To determine if the levels of cortisol influenced dopamine levels in the brain and behavioral patterns in adult rats abnormal, the investigators gave the animals a compound called RU486, known to block cortisol receptor cells.
The analysis showed that all symptoms of the mice disappeared.
To understand the reason for the improvement, the team analyzed the Th gene that produces the enzyme that regulates dopamine levels and found a genetic change that limits the ability of gene function and, therefore, leaves the dopamine in abnormally low levels.
According to Sawa, the study points to the need to think of a better preventive care for adolescents who have a history of mental illness in the family, including efforts to protect them from social stressors, such as negligence.
The team also believes can be able to develop new compounds to combat psychiatric disorders, with fewer side effects.
Source: R7 - News
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This article was translated by an automatic translation system, and was therefore not reviewed by people.