New research into the neural mechanisms behind depression concludes that a protein complex called an inflammasome, which induces inflammation and often triggers cell death, may be a key player in the condition, at least in mice.
The study, published in Cell Reports on October 25, probed the mechanisms producing depressive behaviors in a common mouse model in which animals are subjected to chronic mild stress. A combination of in vitro and mouse experiments showed that showed that, when activated by stress, NLRP3 inflammasomes found within immune cells in the brain trigger a so-called neurotoxic response in neighboring cells, eventually leading to the death of nearby neurons. That neurotoxic response is already a well-established contributor to depressive behavior in animals, and separately, the NLRP3 inflammasome been linked in previous research to several human diseases, including Alzheimer’s disease, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, a rare condition called Muckle-Wells syndrome, and severe COVID-19. ...
