DEPRESSION LINKED TO LOCATION OF PROTEIN IN BRAIN

Changes in the location of a single protien in the brain could be used to tell whether a person with depression is responding to an antidepressant within days of taking the drug. People with depression now must wait weeks before they learn whether the drug they are taking will bring relief, have discovered that a single protein in the brain changes its location within a cell membrane when an antidepressant is working, and this change could be identified with a simple blood test. The possibility there, is if they look at blood from a patient on day zero and day four or five, we'll know whether the antidepresant would be effective. This help to reinforce not only that this is a medical problem,but that there is a clear chemical change.