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Some depressed individuals missing brain cells, research shows WASHINGTON (October 27, 1998 3:38 p.m. EST http://www.nandotimes.com) - Some depressed individuals are missing brain cells, researchers reported Tuesday in findings that could help explain cases of inherited depression. Neurobiologist Joseph Price of the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and colleagues say their finding could lead to new ways to treat many cases of depression. "One of the things we hope may result from our findings is the recognition that there are important differences between patients with a familial history of depression and those without," Price said in a statement. "There might also be differences in appropriate drug therapies." Price's team was building on earlier studies that show people with familial depression have less activity in a part of the brain known as the subgenual prefrontal cortex. In people with inherited depression this region, which is about the size of a thumbnail and is right behind the middle of the forehead, is also smaller. Price and his team looked closer. They compared the number of brain cells from that region in people with bipolar disorder, also known as manic-depression, and healthy people. In many of the patients they found a huge difference in the numbers of cells called glia, which help take care of other brain cells called neurons. Glia are also known to respond to serotonin, the neurotransmitter or message- carrying chemical involved in depression. The differences were only found in people with a family history of depression, Price reported in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. "That suggests that this deficit may relate to the genetic difference that gives people a tendency to become depressed," Price said. Copyright 1998 Nando.net Copyright 1998 Reuters News Service janet paterson - 51 now / 41 dx / 37 onset - almonte/ontario/canada http://www.newcountry.nu/pd/members/janet/ [log in to unmask]