What Is The Mechanism Behind The Depression Induced By Bullying?
By LAMSA
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1 minute
Blood-Brain Barrier (BBB) is the protective barrier that lays between the brain and blood vessels. Normally, BBB is permeable only to oxygen and nutriments mandatory for optimal brain functioning. At the opposite, BBB will stop most of other molecules, including toxic substances, pro-inflammatory molecules and germs from reaching and hurting the brain.
Bullying and social chronic stress induce depression
Caroline Menard (& colleagues), a researcher in Neurosciences at University of Laval (Quebec/Canada), has lately demonstrated that when mice were exposed to chronic social stress and bullying, BBB loses its tightness. Consequently, pro-inflammatory molecules responsible of depressive symptoms, will pass through the BBB and will reach the brain.
Increase of the BBB permeability is related to the decrease (by half) of the level of Claudine-5, the protein which is responsible of the BBB tightness.
30-50% of depressive people will not reponse to available anti-depressors
Implications of this research:
- Bullying and social chronic stress definitely induce depression
- Working on new class of anti-depressors medications working on increasing the tightness of the Blood-Brain Barrier
