Despite the fact that clinical depression is so common in the population, the biological factors that lead to its development are not yet clear.
Studies have determined that the best way to deal with it is to treat it in an electric market, even though it was not clear what the biological mechanism at the center of this treatment was.
A new study reveals for the first time the mechanism of action of therapy in the electric market, which is based on inhibiting the formation of molecules that disrupts the structure and function of microglial cells in the brain.
The study, recently published in the journal Molecular Psychiatry, was conducted by Prof. Raz Jeremiah of the Hebrew University, together with postdoctoral fellow Dr. Neta Rimmerman and other researchers, funded by the National Science Foundation.
Representatives of the immune system in the brain
The researchers found that in the model of experimental animal depression, electrical market therapy inhibits the formation of molecules that neutralize and degenerate the microglial cells during the development of depression.
They have also discovered a new drug that mimics the mechanism of action of an electric shock on microglia cells and reduces depressive symptoms more effectively than conventional drugs, such as Ciprofloxacin.
Microglial cells, which make up about 10% of brain cells, are the representatives of the brain's immune system.
The researchers found that the effect of an electric shock on microglial cells is the mechanism of the antidepressant properties of the treatment.
Next, the researchers examined which genes are over-activated or deficient in the brain in response to an electrical market, and found changes in 15 genes, with only one of them, LAG3, unique to microglia cells.
In depressive states, the expression of the gene increases and causes a decrease and disruption in the microglial cells, while the treatment in an electric shock lowers its expression back to a normal state.
Interestingly, the production of LAG3 and similar immune control points materials also increases in cancerous tumors in the body, causing a disruption of the immune system’s ability to eradicate cancer.
Therefore, the innovative biological drugs for cancer are based on antibodies that block this mechanism.
The researchers used a similar approach and found that treatment with the LAG3 antibody returned the microglial cells to their normal state, increased the formation of new neurons in the brain, and was a fast-acting and effective treatment, even more so than ciprofloxacin.