Summary: Managing mental health issues like major depression is challenging. However, in the new study, researchers propose that instead of focusing on higher brain centers, we need to focus on more primitive brain areas like the brain stem cell. This is because various neuronal populations in the brain stem can significantly impact higher brain functions like cognition, mood, and more.
Moreover, the brain stem is not covered by the blood-brain barrier. Additionally, the study also shows that interventions introduced during puberty are more likely to have a significant impact.
The brain makes us who we are. It means that if anything goes wrong with the brain, it may have a devastating impact. Even smaller changes in the brain may cause significant disability and may lead to severe psychiatric issues like schizophrenia or major depression.
However, the brain is very complex, which means that understanding brain development and functioning is quite challenging. Science knows a bit about the role of various parts of the brain. However, science has a limited understanding of how various brain parts interact with each other and how they coordinate. Thus, for example, science knows that the prefrontal cortex (front part of the brain) plays an important role in cognition, decision-making, and memory. But on the other hand, the brain stem, one of the deeply located areas, controls most body functions related to existence. Thus, the brain stem is called the primitive part of the brain, as it is present in all mammals and controls more primitive yet essential functions like hunger, body temperature, respiration, and so on. However, the brain stem does not participate in more complex decision-making, thinking, memory, etc.
Though neurons in the brain cell control essential body function, they may influence the working of higher brain functions like cognition, intelligence, and memories. Since cognition also plays an important role in ensuring survival. Hence, in the new study, researchers decided to focus on the neuronal population in the brain stem or hypothalamus called an agouti-related peptide (AgRP). These neurons play an essential role in feeding and the body’s temperature control. AgRP neuronal population is small, but its impact on health and well-being is massive. After all, they ensure adequate food intake. Additionally, it is logical to think they might send signals to the higher brain areas. After all, higher brain areas are responsible for finding food and ensuring safety and existence.
In the new study, researchers could find some new pathways. For example, they saw that if the working of AgRP is impaired, it results in higher activity of the midbrain or ventral tegmental area, the greater release of dopamine, and thus certain negative influences on the frontal cortex. Researchers say that these findings make sense. After all, hunger and feeding have a significant impact on animal behavior. For example, when you are hungry, you start seeking food actively. Similarly, when you are not hungry, the brain behaves differently. It also means that modulating AgRP cells can help modulate the working of the higher brain centers. They found that one of the drugs, called clozapine, could block the action of dopamine.
However, they discovered that the drug was more effective in modulating various pathways during puberty when the brain was still developing. Researchers say that this also shows that dieting or overeating during puberty, when the brain is developing, can have a long-lasting impact on higher brain functions. It also means that mental health issues must be identified earlier, as they can be treated more effectively during this period. These findings also coincide with observations that many mental health issues worsen during puberty and onwards. Therefore, it means that puberty is also the best time to manage these mental health issues.
Researchers say another good thing about these findings is that the brain stem is located outside the brain stem. However, AgRP cells are in the brain stem. It means that many drugs that cannot cross the blood-brain barrier can still affect cells in the brain stem and help manage mental health issues. It also means that these brain cells are more readily available for medical interventions. Hence, researchers concluded that this study shows one of the better ways of managing mental health issues or brain disorders could be by using medications that influence more primitive brain areas. It is vital to understand that higher brain regions are constantly communicating with these primitive brain areas.
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