The pattern of melatonin receptor expression in the brain may influence antidepressant treatment.

The pineal hormone melatonin produces most of its biological effects via G protein-coupled receptors MT1 and MT2. In mammals, these receptors are expressed in various tissues and organs including in the brain. Recent research points to a putative role of MT1/MT2 dimerization as a mechanism that could determine the receptor-mediated biological effects of melatonin. Brain content and the ratios between MT1 and MT2 receptors are affected by illness, e.g., Alzheimer's disease, and by prolonged drug treatment, e.g., antidepressants. New drugs with antidepressant properties that bind and activate melatonin receptors have been discovered. We hypothesize that endogenous, i.e., low, levels of melatonin could contribute to antidepressant effects depending on the expression pattern of melatonin receptors in the brain. Hence, we propose that a prolonged treatment with classical antidepressant drugs alters the brain ratio of MT1/MT2 receptors to enable the endogenous melatonin, which is secreted during the night, to further improve the antidepressant effects. A corollary of this hypothesis is that antidepressants would be less effective in conditions of pathologically altered brain melatonin receptors, e.g., in Alzheimer's patients or due to genetic polymorphisms. If our hypothesis is confirmed, supplementing classical antidepressant treatment with an appropriate dose of a melatonin receptor agonist might be used to improve antidepressant effects in subjects with a susceptible pattern of brain melatonin receptor expression.

Fruit flies for anti-pain drug discovery.

Recent work has indicated that fruit flies (Drosophila melanogaster) can be used in nociception research. Genetic screening identified a gene, painless, that is required for thermal and mechanical nociception in Drosophila larvae. On the other hand, pharmacological techniques and noxious heat were used to assay antinocieceptive behavior in intact adult Drosophila. In general, animal models for pain research are bound by ethical concerns. Since no serious ethical controversies have been raised regarding experiments in insects, Drosophila may be, for the time being an ethically acceptable animal model for combined genetic and pharmacological analgesia research.

5-Lipoxygenase as a putative link between cardiovascular and psychiatric disorders.

There is evidence of an association between depression and anxiety and cardio- cerebro-vascular conditions, but the mechanisms of this association are unknown. Here we review a possible role for the 5-lipoxygenase (5-LOX) pathway. 5-LOX is an enzyme that, in association with 5-LOX-activating protein (FLAP), leads to the synthesis of leukotrienes from omega-6 arachidonic acid. Production of active leukotrienes can be reduced by dietary omega-3 fatty acids, which also are beneficial in cardiac and psychiatric (e.g., depression) pathologies. Human 5-LOX and FLAP gene polymorphisms are a risk factor in atherosclerosis and cardio-cerebro-vascular pathologies; an overactive 5-LOX pathway is found in these diseases. Studies with 5-LOX-deficient transgenic mice suggest that 5-LOX activity may contribute to anxiety- and depression-like behaviors. Future research should characterize the role of the 5-LOX pathway in comorbid cardio-cerebro-vascular and psychiatric disorders and in the therapeutic actions of dietary omega-3 fatty acids.