Scientists in Nanjing are at the forefront of research into medical treatment for depression, as a recently-published study reveals that men are likely to pass on the genetic material that can cause the mental health disorder in their sperm.
It was a team of researchers from Chinese institutions nationwide, led by Nanjing Medical University experts, that conducted the study. Therein, the researchers used laboratory mice in order that they may learn more about the roots of depression.
The team’s findings have been made available in a research article published by the American Association for the Advancement of Science last month.
The scientific community has known for many years that chronic depression in humans is the result of chemical imbalances in the brain. In particular, it is the ratio between chemicals such as dopamine, norepinephrine and serotine that can lead to depression.
But the reason for these imbalances has remained illusive. While we still do not have absolute answers, the Nanjing-led study does appear to confirm that mice can pass on traits such as trauma to their offspring.
For the study, the team first subjected male mice to a 5-week ordeal designed to bring about stress. Afterward, their behaviour had become characteristic of a depressed rodent. The mice exhibited less interest in food and swam less when placed in water, while stress-related hormones were also at higher levels.
The team then had the depressed male mice mate with unstressed females.
As to the results, the offspring of stressed father mice became easily depressed when exposed to a stress stimulate, whereas those from non-depressed fathers did not.
Researchers then added more weeks to their experiment, in order to see whether depression may also be hereditary across multiple generations. They found that the grand-pups of the original depressed fathers were to all intents and purposes stress free. Behaving just as healthy mice did in response to mild stress led the team to conclude that depression may only be passed down to a single generation.
Research team leader, Chen Xi, believes his team’s findings may possibly influence the development of future human anti-depressant treatment. “We have already reached out to several hospitals and started to evaluate the scope of ethical permission for measuring sperm miRNA profiles in depression patients”, Chen said.
