うつ病の脳科学

Depression is a very popular mental disorder that affects about １０％ of population throughout life and its prevalence is around ２ to ５％. More than ３０，０００ people died by suicide per year in Japan and about half of suicides were estimated to be suffered from depression. Although depression is treatable by pharmacotherapy, the diagnosis of depression is still difficult for primary care doctor because there is no reliable marker. We are now trying to find a new marker for depression with molecular biology and brain imaging study. We are also analyzing the mood changes during menstruation cycles and between pre and post operation of deep brain stimulation for Parkinson’s disease patients. In this article, I review the strategy for understanding of depression in our department with brain sciences.

四国医学雑誌 : http://www.tokushima-u.ac.jp/med/research/shikoku_acta_medica.html