(ORDO NEWS) — American researchers have found that genetics is responsible for the development of depression in women. The fair sex suffers from clinical depression twice as often as the strong one.
On this occasion, many different assumptions can be made, including those related to the specific upbringing of girls and the imposition of a “passive” role on them – for example, in love relationships.
But little is known about the molecular mechanisms of the development of depression in different sexes.
Scientists from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, the University of Pittsburgh and Southwestern Utah University (USA) decided to shed light on this issue.
The work was based on the identification of initial sex differences in the expression of long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs), and specifically, the type of lncRNAs named by the FEDORA researchers.
The scientists worked with the brain tissues of recently deceased people and compared the expression levels of FEDORA in men and women – both those who suffered from depression and those who were not diagnosed with such a diagnosis.
In addition, the authors of the work studied gene differences in people who were prescribed ketamine as a cure for depression.
It turned out that the highest level of FEDORA was in women suffering from chronic depression, and the lowest – in the fair sex, taking ketamine.
On living patients, the study, however, was also carried out. They took blood samples, the analysis of which showed a higher level of expression of FEDORA in women diagnosed with depression, compared with the fair sex, who do not suffer from this disease, and men in general.
The second phase of the study, already in mice, showed that animals genetically programmed to express high levels of lncRNAs had higher FEDORA scores, as well as more symptoms of anxiety and depression. Again, this was true only for female mice.
Therefore, scientists suggest that due to such genetic features, the female sex is more likely to suffer from depression.
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