Natural chemical helps brain adapt to stress
The findings in a mouse model could have broad implications for the potential treatment and prevention of mood and anxiety disorders, including major depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), they reported in the journal Nature Communications . "The study suggests that deficiencies in natural cannabinoids could result in a predisposition to developing PTSD and depression," said Sachin Patel, M.D., Ph.D., director of the Division of Addiction Psychiatry at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine and the paper's corresponding author. "Boosting this signaling system could represent a new treatment approach for these stress-linked disorders," he said. Patel, the James G. Blakemore Professor of Psychiatry, re ceived a Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers last year for his pioneering studies of the endocannabinoid family of signaling molecules that activate the CB1 and CB2 cannabinoid receptors in the brain. Tetrahydr...