[테크월드뉴스=조명의 기자]
The research team of Dr. Song-Wook Heo of the Seoul Center of the Korea Basic Science Institute (KBSI) discovered the process of causing depression by transferring body inflammation to the brain through real-time biometric imaging technology.
Until now, clinical studies have reported that patients with inflammatory diseases are more likely to develop depression, but it is not known exactly how inflammation in the body causes depression. In this study, for the first time, the process by which body inflammation causes depression is proved through biometric imaging, allowing a new approach to depression caused by viral infections such as Corona 19.
Inflammation is an essential response to protect the body and plays an important role in suppressing damage caused by external stimuli. When a body infection occurs due to a virus or bacteria, a protein called NFκB promotes the inflammatory reaction and protects the organism. When foreign substances are removed through this inflammatory reaction, the GR protein acts to suppress unnecessary inflammatory reactions. When GR protein does not properly inhibit the inflammatory response, various inflammatory diseases are caused.
In order to measure and observe changes in the activity of NFκB and GR proteins in real time, the research team developed a high-sensitivity measurement sensor that targets and emits light for each of these two proteins. The NFκB sensor and GR sensor were injected into the body and brain of a living animal model, and bacteriotoxin (LPS) was administered to the body to induce inflammation, and then NFκB and GR activities were measured.
Early after administration (1~6 hours), it was confirmed through the NFκB sensor that the inflammatory response was promoted in the body of the animal model, and it was confirmed through animal behavior experiments that pain occurred in the body. At this time, no inflammatory reaction or depressive symptoms were observed in the brain. In the mid-section (6-10 hours), the GR sensor showed that the body’s inflammatory response was suppressed, and no brain inflammatory reactions or depression symptoms were observed.
In the second half (10-12 hours), NFκB was activated in the frontal lobe of the brain, indicating that the body’s inflammation was transferred to the brain. The GR protein, which inhibits inflammation, was also activated in the brain, but the inflammatory reaction in the brain was not stopped because it did not function properly. In addition, depressive symptoms in animal models could be confirmed through behavioral experiments. These results show that the GR protein lost its inhibitory function of inflammation, leading to depression.
The research team quantitatively measured and imaged the inflammatory phenomenon of animal models in real time using the luminescent fluorescence experimental animal imaging system of KBSI Seoul Center. This imaging system is a non-invasive device that analyzes animal life phenomena and disease development processes, and allows observation of experimental progress while anesthetized live animal models.
This research was carried out with the support of the Ministry of Science, ICT, and ICT and the Korean Research Foundation’s Brain Science Institute Chun Technology Development Project, and the results were recently published in the online edition of the famous psychiatric journal’Molecular Psychiatry’.
Professor Jae-min Kim of the Department of Psychiatry of Chonnam Medical University, the co-author of the research paper, said, “This research result will help us to newly understand the biological relationship between somatic inflammation and depression, and to diagnose and treat inflammatory depression caused by Corona 19.”
Senior Researcher Heo Song-wook of KBSI said, “We plan to carry out joint research on various diseases such as cancer, immunology, drug research, as well as depression and inflammation research using the bio-imaging platform built at the KBSI Seoul Center.”