McGill Team Finds Depression Brain Cells
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- McGill University used single‑cell RNA and DNA sequencing on 100 post‑mortem brains (59 depressed, 41 controls) to map gene activity across cell types.
- Douglas Institute collaborated on the study and helped secure the rare tissue from the Douglas‑Bell Canada Brain Bank.
- Dr. Gustavo Turecki reported that excitatory neurons and a microglia subtype show distinct gene‑expression changes in depression, indicating disrupted mood‑regulation and inflammation pathways.
- Nature Genetics published the findings, highlighting the two cell types as potential therapeutic targets for depression.
- Douglas‑Bell Canada Brain Bank provided the unique donor samples, crucial for linking psychiatric diagnosis to cellular molecular signatures.
Why it matters: Pharma companies gain a concrete cellular target for new drugs, aiming at the 264 million patients with depression, while insurers will face lower costs from more effective therapies.
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