The following depression-related parameters were determined: plasma ACTH, plasma corticosterone, adrenal gland weight and hippocampal levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF).
The expression of both CRFR mRNA in the LC and the plasma level of ACTH increased significantly in "depression-model rats" which exhibit reduced activity following exposure to 14 days forced walking stress (FWS), but not in "spontaneous recovery rats" whose activity was restored after the long-term stress.
Additionally, at 1, 2, and 8 weeks of treatment, the 21-item Hamilton Depression Rating scores of MDD subjects with POMC ht2 were significantly (P = 0.003-0.044) lower than those of patients with ht1 in subjects those did not experience SLE.
MDD patients carrying the depression-associated AA genotype showed enhanced maximum and area under the curve ACTH and cortisol answers (p = 0.03) as well as an impaired memory and impaired sustained attention performance (p = 0.04) compared to carriers of at least one G allele.
The demonstration of mRNA POMC in breast carcinoma with NE features suggests a depression and/or an activation of the POMC gene linked to the NE differentiation.
Here we describe epigenetic modifications of Pomc gene that transmit through generation via male germline and may be critically involved in alcoholism-inherited diseases.
Genetic variation at a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in the mu-opioid receptor gene (OPRM1) of both humans and rhesus macaques Macaca mulatta has been associated with differential affinity to the endogenous ligand beta-endorphin as well as alterations in pain sensitivity, drug and alcohol dependence, and social behaviors.The new study by Higham et al.
Previous findings of the Franconian Alcoholism Research Studies showed that both the CAGn of the androgen receptor (AR) and the promoter methylation of the hypothalamic peptide proopiomelanocortin (POMC) were associated with craving of male alcohol-dependent patients.
Thus, the data obtained suggest no association of the selected polymorphisms of the genes OPRM1/POMC and OPRK1/PDYN with alcoholism in Croatian population.