New perspective on sustained antidepressant effect: focus on neurexins regulating synaptic plasticity
Cell Death Discovery May 1, 2024 Yuan Ruan, Ruolan Yuan, Jiaqi He et al. 11 citations
Depression is common, but current medications often have low response rates and short-lasting effects, especially when depression co-occurs with other disorders and progresses to major depressive disorder. Recent research highlights ketamine and psilocybin as potential sustained antidepressants. A review of studies indicates that changes in synaptic plasticity are key to long-lasting antidepressant effects. Neurexins, molecules that regulate synaptic plasticity, are critical links between plasticity and sustained antidepressant effects, involving mechanisms such as protein level changes, selective splicing, epigenetics, astrocytes, positional redistribution, and protein structure. Drugs targeting neurexin-regulated plasticity show promise for sustained antidepressant development, representing a highly promising future direction.