The effect of physiological antidepressant treatments on the gene expression pattern in hypothalamic nuclei

生理性抗抑郁剂治疗(电休克治疗)的确切作用机制尚不清楚。为确定抗抑郁药物治疗后下丘脑室旁核(PVN)基因表达的变化，采用基因芯片技术。我确定了几个通过电休克治疗在PVN中存在差异调节的基因。尽管已鉴定的基因产物在抗抑郁作用中的作用尚不清楚，但一些下调基因，如蛋白激酶C和神经肽Y，已被报道与心理障碍有关。

The exact mechanisms underlying the actions of physiological antidepressant treatment (electroconvulsive therapy) are not yet understood. To identify the gene expression changes by antidepressant treatments in the paraventricular nucleus of hypothalamus (PVN), microarray analysis was performed. I identified several genes as differentially regulated in PVN by electroconvulsive therapy. Although the involvement of the identified gene products in antidepressant effects still remains unknown, some of down-regulated genes, such as protein kinase C and neuropeptide Y, have been reported their relevance to psychological disorders.