Increasing the levels of a signaling molecule found in the brain can positively alter response to stress, revealing a potential new therapeutic target for treatment of depression, University of Texas (UT) Southwestern Medical Center researchers said. The study, which appears in Nature Neuroscience, determined that elevating levels of the molecule cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) in brain cells had a positive impact on stress-induced behaviors in mice. Other studies have shown that patients with major depressive disorder often have impaired cAMP signaling and that chronic anti-depressant treatments often turn on this signaling system. The title of the current article is “The Role of Ventral Striatal cAMP Signaling in Stress-Induced Behaviors.” "This is the first step in the development of a treatment for patients with major depressive disorder using this new strategy," said senior author Dr. James Bibb, Professor of Psychiatry, and Neurology and Neurotherapeutics at UT Southwestern. Major depressive disorder (MDD) may be triggered or exacerbated by severe or chronic stress. Depression affects more than 120 million people worldwide. Between 20 percent to 40 percent of people with depression are not helped by existing therapies, highlighting the need for new treatments and approaches. The study was supported by the Center for Depression Research and Clinical Care at UT Southwestern. The Center, established with a $5 million lead gift from the Hersh Foundation earlier this year, combines basic research, translational clinical research in genetics, functional brain imaging, and treatment research across the entire age span, with a special focus on treatment of resistant, chronic, or recurrent depression.Login Or Register To Read Full Story