major depressive disorder tagged posts

Major Depressive Disorder linked to interplay of Gut Microbiome and Blood Metabolome

gut
Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

An international team of medical researchers has found a link between major depressive disorder (MDD) and an interplay between the gut microbiome and the blood metabolome. For their study, reported in the journal JAMA Psychiatry, the group analyzed data in the UK Biobank.

Some prior research has suggested there may be a link between MDD and conditions surrounding the gut biome, but little work has been done to prove a connection, and existing studies were too small to show any true connections. In this new effort, the researchers attempted to conduct a far more broad study of any such connections by studying data in the UK Biobank—a massive database of health and genetic information for nearly a half-million patients in the U.K.

The researchers...

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Bad timing is Depressing: Disrupting the Brain’s Internal Clock causes Depressive and anxiety-like behavior in mice

Bmal1/Clock complex activates transcription of genes containing E-box sequences in their promoters. Among these are Per1/2 and Cry1/2, which following dimerization can inhibit the activity of the Bmal1/Clock complex. Rev-Erb and Ror provide an additional stabilizing loop to fine-tune the expression of Bmal1. In addition to E-boxes, other clock regulatory elements (such as ROREs and D-boxes) are commonly found in the promoters of CCGs.

Bmal1/Clock complex activates transcription of genes containing E-box sequences in their promoters. Among these are Per1/2 and Cry1/2, which following dimerization can inhibit the activity of the Bmal1/Clock complex. Rev-Erb and Ror provide an additional stabilizing loop to fine-tune the expression of Bmal1. In addition to E-boxes, other clock regulatory elements (such as ROREs and D-boxes) are commonly found in the promoters of CCGs.

Disruptions of daily rhythms of the body’s master internal clock provide insight into the role of the brain’s internal time keeping system in the development of mood disorders, such as bipolar disorder and major depressive disorder MDD, which have been associated with disturbed daily (circadian) rhythms...

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