Project 5-CREB and the other targets in Projects 1-4 in reward regions in depress

我们的中心最近启动了一项新的倡议，研究CREB和其他感兴趣的分子靶点 项目1-4在抑郁症患者的大脑奖励区域的尸检。这项工作主要集中在 NAc（延髓核）和VTA（腹侧被盖区）。这一奋进代表了一个新的项目5 在这场激烈的竞争中。 我们已经开始通过达拉斯大脑收集中心收集抑郁症患者的大脑。 这种收集工作一直在迅速进行，这确保了有足够大的 足够的样本进行有意义的分析。该项目为中心的研究提供了几个强大的功能。第一章 我们采用最严格的脑组织质量测量方法，这对尸检至关重要 大脑研究2)我们对人类大脑奖励区域的关注补充了该领域目前的大多数努力， 主要分析了其他大脑回路。3)通过关注相同的基因和蛋白质 临床前研究人员在啮齿动物抑郁症模型中进行研究，该项目为 我们中心的关键转化使命。4)我们将研究这些分子靶点， 抑郁症的诊断（即，如在重度抑郁症患者中所见）和作为症状的函数 抑郁症（即，如在几种诊断中所见，包括重度抑郁症，双相抑郁症， 情感障碍伴抑郁症）。5)VTA和NAc中分子靶点的改变也将被发现。 特征为抑郁症的发展风险因素的功能（基于广泛的历史， 人类受试者）和最近与抑郁症的遗传风险有关的特定基因型。6)项目 将研究长期抗抑郁治疗对这些分子靶点的可能影响， 啮齿类动物与原型代理人6个月。 我们对这一新举措的潜力感到非常兴奋。我们已经证明了研究的可行性 人死后NAc中感兴趣的各种基因产物， 我们知道，在啮齿动物抑郁模型中，这些产物中的一些发生了改变。在 与此同时，来自人体组织的发现为这些分子的调节提供了新的见解， 路径，这是指导其他项目的临床前研究。此外，我们还建立了 对人类死后组织进行先进分子分析的能力，包括， 传统的DNA表达阵列、染色质免疫沉淀（ChIP）、ChIP芯片和microRNA 与染色质和基因调控核心相结合。拟议的研究将共同 提供对与以下疾病相关的人类VTA-NAc分子病理学的独特强大分析 抑郁症及其治疗

Our Center has recently launched a new initiative to study CREB and the other molecular targets of interest to Projects 1-4 in brain reward regions of depressed humans on autopsy. This work focuses primarily on the NAc (nucleus accumbens) and VTA (ventraltegmental area). This endeavor represents a new Project 5 for the Center in this competitive renewal. We have already begun the collection of brains from depressed humans via the Dallas Brain Collection. Such collections have been proceeding at a rapid pace, which ensures the availability of an adequately large enough sample for meaningful analysis. The Project offers several powerful features for Center research. 1) We utilize the most stringent and rigorous measures of brain tissue quality, which is essential for postmortem brain studies. 2) Our focus on human brain reward regions complements most current efforts in the field, which have largely analyzed other brain circuits. 3) By focusing on the same genes and proteins that preclinical investigators study in rodent models of depression, the Project provides a major driving force for the critical translational mission of our Center. 4) We will examine these molecular targets both as a function of a diagnosis of depression (i.e., as seen in patients with major depression) and as a function of symptoms of depression (i.e., as seen across several diagnoses, including major depression, bipolar depression, and schizoaffective disorder with depression). 5) Alterations in molecular targets in the VTA and NAc will also be characterized as a function of developmental risk factors for depression (based on extensive history of the human subjects) and of particular genotypes recently implicated in genetic risk for depression. 6) The Project will study the possible influence of long-term antidepressant treatment on these molecular targets by treating rodents with prototypical agents for 6 months. We are very excited by the potential of this new initiative. We have demonstrated the feasibility of studying the various gene products of interest in human postmortem NAc and have already documented abnormalities in some of these products, which we know are altered in rodent depression models. At the same time, findings from the human tissue have provided new insight into regulation of these molecular pathways, which is guiding the preclinical research in the other Projects. Moreover, we have established the capability of carrying out advanced molecular analyses on human postmortem tissue, including, well beyond traditional DNA expression arrays, chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP), ChIP on chip, and microRNA assays in conjunction with the Chromatin and Gene Regulation Core. Together, the proposed studies will provide a uniquely powerful analysis of molecular pathologies in the human VTA-NAc associated with depression and its treatment.