www.baptisteast.com/news/healthscout/?id=617940 -
[Cached Version]
Published on: 8/3/2008
Last Visited: 8/3/2008
According to the study, from assistant researcher Jamie Maguire and lead researcher Istvan Mody, both of the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles, dysregulation of a particular class of proteins called GABA receptors on the surface of certain neurons in the brain may induce post-delivery mood disorders ranging from "baby blues" to postpartum psychosis.
...
Maguire and Mody wanted to see what happens to GABA receptors in the brains of mice undergoing the hormonal swings associated with pregnancy.
...
That makes sense from a homeostatic point of view, Maguire explained.For the body to maintain a constant level of GABA receptor-derived inhibition, receptor abundance must stay more or less in synch with neurosteroid levels.
"If you want to maintain a constant level of inhibition, with more neurosteroids, you need fewer receptors," she explained.
...
SOURCES: Istvan Mody, Ph.D., Tony Coelho professor, neurology and physiology, department of neurology, David Geffen School of Medicine, UCLA; Jamie Maguire, Ph.D., assistant researcher, department of neurology, David Geffen School of Medicine, UCLA; Julio Licinio, M.D., professor and chairman, department of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine; Bernard Carroll, M.D., Ph.D., scientific director, Pacific Behavioral Research Foundation, Carmel, Calif.; July 31, 2008, Neuron