Like people, flies can get depressed (and helped).
Among the complications of COVID-19, we can also note an increased toll on mental health. This effect is due to many factors, including a direct effect of this corona virus on brain cells, social isolation, and the stress that the pandemic is inflicting. Flies have a little brain, which is perfect for research since it is simple enough, but yet contains many of the same basic functions found in humans. Moreover, flies are an already established model to study stress induced depression.
A new study (Kim et al. 2020) from the Jo laboratory at the Korea University in Seoul investigates the antidepressant effect of creatine and taurine mixture on the behavior and stress biomarkers in a fly and mouse models. Flies were stressed through a vibration treatment, in which the flies were put in small glass tubes and made to vibrate. This type of stress can have various effects on the flies, among which is found an alteration of the sleep schedule, and changes in how much flies are moving around. Kim and colleagues found that mixtures of Creatine and Taurine helped the flies stabilizing their sleep schedule and motility. The researchers then used Creatine and Taurine, mixed in the same proportion as the most effective dose in flies, to study their impact in mouse. The researchers found that this mixture also showed antidepressants effects in mice, with a decrease in stress related hormones and inflammation.
These finding raises the possibility that a similar process is found in humans, and highlight the use of fly and mouse models to study depression and to find therapeutic drugs against it.
Citation: Kim, S., Hong, K. B., Kim, S., Suh, H. J., & Jo, K. (2020). Creatine and taurine mixtures alleviate depressive-like behaviour in Drosophila melanogaster and mice via regulating Akt and ERK/BDNF pathways. Scientific Reports, 10(1), 11370. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-68424-1
A new study (Kim et al. 2020) from the Jo laboratory at the Korea University in Seoul investigates the antidepressant effect of creatine and taurine mixture on the behavior and stress biomarkers in a fly and mouse models. Flies were stressed through a vibration treatment, in which the flies were put in small glass tubes and made to vibrate. This type of stress can have various effects on the flies, among which is found an alteration of the sleep schedule, and changes in how much flies are moving around. Kim and colleagues found that mixtures of Creatine and Taurine helped the flies stabilizing their sleep schedule and motility. The researchers then used Creatine and Taurine, mixed in the same proportion as the most effective dose in flies, to study their impact in mouse. The researchers found that this mixture also showed antidepressants effects in mice, with a decrease in stress related hormones and inflammation.
These finding raises the possibility that a similar process is found in humans, and highlight the use of fly and mouse models to study depression and to find therapeutic drugs against it.
Citation: Kim, S., Hong, K. B., Kim, S., Suh, H. J., & Jo, K. (2020). Creatine and taurine mixtures alleviate depressive-like behaviour in Drosophila melanogaster and mice via regulating Akt and ERK/BDNF pathways. Scientific Reports, 10(1), 11370. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-68424-1