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We may know more about depression now than ever before. Last week, a study published in Nature identified genes in the brain that cause depression. This improved understanding could lead to better diagnosis and treatment.

 

Although there have been many other studies on depression, this one offers a more detailed understanding of not just one, but three types of depression.

 

Lead researcher and author of the study, David Howard said that what made this study unique was the ability to study three types, “From one the was relatively broad ...[diagnosed by] a general practitioner or psychiatrist, to one that was based on a clinical diagnosis recorded in hospital records.” The third type the study examined was Major Depressive Disorder.

 

The UK Biobank, an international health information organization, allowed Howard and his team to analyze the genes of 300,000 people. This large sample size allowed the researchers to “scan” people’s genomes for genetic code that caused depression using a technique called genome-wide association, or GWAS.

 

Many of these genetic coding regions were associated with broad depression, or depression diagnosed by general practitioners and psychiatrists. The more coding regions that are linked to a disease, the more likely a geneticist will detect them. In this case, the researchers found many of these genes on the excitatory synaptic pathways of the brain, which send and receive chemical signals between neurons.

 

In human genetics, even seventeen pieces of code on just five genes is a noteworthy discovery.

 

To double check their findings, the researchers compared their results from the UK Biobank to another large database: the genetic testing company 23andMe. They found most people had broad depression, similar to their previous results.

 

The study noted that more of these large-scale GWAS studies are needed to better diagnose and treat different types of depression.

 

With a better understanding of depression genetics, scientists can look to these genes to learn more about the genetics of other psychiatric conditions, such as bipolar disorder or ADHD.

 

“If we can understand the role that excitatory synapse genes play in the onset of depression, then targeted drug treatments could be developed that would limit the impact that depression has for those that are affected,” Howard said.