PRESS RELEASE FROM NEUROPSYCHOPHARMACOLOGY
(http://www.nature.com/npp/)
This press release is copyrighted to the journal Neuropsychopharmacology.
A PDF of the paper mentioned on this release can be found in the relevant journal’s section of http://press.nature.com. Press contacts for the Nature journals are listed at the end of this release.
Warning: This document, and the NPG Academic Journal paper to which it refers, may contain information that is price sensitive (as legally defined, for example, in the UK Criminal Justice Act 1993 Part V) with respect to publicly quoted companies. Anyone dealing in securities using information contained in this document or in advanced copies of Nature’s content may be guilty of insider trading under the US Securities Exchange Act of 1934.
PLEASE CITE neuropsychopharmacology AND THE neuropsychopharmacology WEBSITE AS THE SOURCE OF THE FOLLOWING ITEM. IF PUBLISHING ONLINE, PLEASE CARRY A HYPERLINK TO www.nature.com/npp/
Neuroscience: Serotonin and the brain
Serotonin is used faster in the winter by people suffering from seasonal depression when compared with a control group, according to research to be published in Neurpsychopharmacology this month. The research also shows that serotonin usage returns to normal both where depression is treated effectively and during the summer months.
In depression, studies have found that the brain has too little of a neurotransmitter known as serotonin. However, why the brains of people with depression have low levels of serotonin is not known. Matthaus Williet and colleagues studied the primary way that the brain removes serotonin, known as the serotonin transporter, using an easily accessible model system: the blood platelets. The researchers tested this for a specific type of depression, known as seasonal depression; a depression that worsens in the winter and improves in the summer. This finding, if replicated, could help identify people at risk for depression and could lead to development of a new line of treatment.
Contact:
Matthaus Willeit (Medical University Vienna, Austria)
Tel: +43 1 40 400 3543; E-mail: [email protected]
Editorial contact:
Joyce-Rachel John (NPG Academic Journals, New York, NY, USA)
Tel: +1 212 726 9214; E-mail: [email protected]
PRESS CONTACTS…
For media inquiries relating to embargo policy for the Journal Neuropsychopharmacology:
Ruth Francis (Nature London)
Tel: +44 20 7843 4562; E-mail: [email protected]
For media inquiries relating to the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology:
Tel: +1 615 324 2360; E-mail: [email protected]
About Nature Publishing Group
Nature Publishing Group (NPG) is a division of Macmillan Publishers Ltd, dedicated to serving the academic, professional scientific and medical communities. NPG's flagship title, Nature, was first published in 1869. Other publications include Nature research journals, Nature Reviews, Nature Clinical Practice and a range of prestigious academic journals including society-owned publications. NPG also provides news content through [email protected] and scientific career information through Naturejobs.
NPG is a global company with headquarters in London and offices in New York, San Francisco, Washington DC, Boston, Tokyo, Paris, Munich, Hong Kong, Melbourne, Delhi, Mexico City and Basingstoke. For more information, please go to www.nature.com
