The Study On The Principle Of CRH,ACTH,NPY And GAL In Depression And Its Mechanism

The Study on the Principle of CRH, ACTH, NPY andGAL in Depression and its Mechanism Depression is a series of disease characterized by remarkable and permanent depressive mood or mental changes. The incidence of depression has increased progressively for more and more social challenge these years. Depression has become a major health concern not only because of personal distress, excess mortality, impaired interpersonal relationships, and restriction of work activities but also because of the economic burden it imposes. So it is very important to pay more attention to the study of depression. Although there were many hypothesis and theories, the mechanism of depression remains confusing and has attracted considerable attention. in this study we explored the role of neuropeptides CRH, ACTH, GAL and NPY in the development of depression using R1A, immunohistochemistry, and in situ hybndyzation. First, we examined the alteration of the contents of these neuropeptides in plasma of depression patients. Then, we established a model of depression rats. Thereafter, we investigated the alteration of the contents of these neuropeptides in plasma and different brain regions of depression rats and studied the differences of expression of GIRK mRNAs, the effector of these neuropeptides, in depression rats and in normal rats. This study would clarify the mechanism of participation in depression of neuropeptides and contribute to early diagnosis and judgement of prognosis of depression. The main results are as follows: 1. The alteration of contents of neuropeptldes CRH, ACTH, GAL and NPY in plasma of depression patients. The contents of plasma ACTH markedly increased in moderate and heavy depression patients (p