Research Progress in Genetic Research of Fatigue / 中国实验方剂学杂志

ABSTRACT

Fatigue refers to the manifestation of disorders in the process of carrying out or maintaining random activities， which can be regarded as an independent disease or as a symptom in a variety of chronic diseases. The high incidence of fatigue has seriously affected people's physical and mental health， and the prevention and treatment of fatigue has become an important problem to be solved urgently. The pathogenesis of fatigue mainly includes energy consumpation， accumulation of metabolites， abnormal secretion of neurotransmitters， decline of mitochondrial function， dysfunction of hypothalamus pituitary adrenal axis， etc. At present， there is no unified understanding about the pathogenesis of fatigue at home and abroad. The gene research of fatigue is the current research frontier. Gene expression profiling provides a new method for the study of the mechanism of fatigue. The combination of gene chip technology and traditional Chinese medicine（TCM） theory is expected to bring a breakthrough in the study of the pathogenesis of fatigue. In the study of fatigue gene chip， messenger RNA（mRNA） and microRNA（miRNA） are the common research objects， but few explorations are focused on the gene expression rule of fatigue by a specific signaling pathway and the effective regulation targets of TCM for treating fatigue. In recent years， the dysfunction of reward and inhibition mechanism in the central nervous system has become a research hotspot. In particular， gamma amino butyric acid （GABA） and dopamine （DA） have attracted much attention as the main substances of inhibition and reward mechanism， respectively. GABA and DA are used as inhibition and reward mechanisms to maintain the balance， and the body will not feel fatigue. Once the balance is broken， the fatigue will be formed. At the same time， DA and GABA receptors can also regulate cyclic adenosine monophosphate signaling pathway（cAMP） to affect fatigue. The research on key genes in GABA/DA balance mechanism and related cAMP signaling pathway by gene chip technology is expected to reveal the pathogenesis of fatigue in depth. The gene chip method is used to detect the changes of key genes in GABA/DA pathway and the related cAMP signaling pathway in the fatigue population and the normal population， so as to further explore the pathogenesis of fatigue. In this paper， the key genes in GABA/DA balance mechanism and cAMP signaling pathway related to fatigue were summarized by using the review method， so as to provide the basis for further study on the pathogenesis of fatigue and effective prevention and treatment from the perspective of genetics.