{"id":7583,"date":"2013-07-22T11:07:01","date_gmt":"2013-07-22T11:07:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/praag.org\/?p=7583"},"modified":"2013-07-22T13:00:02","modified_gmt":"2013-07-22T13:00:02","slug":"scientists-discover-brains-misery-molecule","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/praag.org\/?p=7583","title":{"rendered":"Scientists discover brain’s misery molecule"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0\"brain2\"<\/a>Scientists have found the brain’s ‘misery molecule’ believed to be responsible for all of our feelings of stress and anxiety.<\/p>\n

Researchers believe that the protein – named CRF1 – could also be linked to depression.<\/p>\n

A team from Heptares Therapeutics, a medical company based in Hertfordshire, used one of the world’s most powerful x-ray machines to study the brain’s pituitary gland.<\/p>\n

It has long been known that the gland controls stress, depression and anxiety by releasing stress chemicals, the Sunday Times reports.<\/p>\n

Now, scientists have discovered the response is triggered by CRF1 – which is found in the outer membranes of pituitary cells.<\/p>\n

Fiona Marshall, chief scientific officer at Heptares, told the paper: ‘Stress related diseases such as depression and anxiety affect a quarter of adults each year, but what many people don’t realise is that these conditions are controll<\/p>\n

When it picks one of these molecules up, it triggers the parent cell to release the hormones which lead to stress and anxiety, the paper reports.<\/p>\n

Using the Diamond Light Source, based in Harwell, Oxfordshire, which produces powerful x-ray beams, researchers were able to study the protein’s structure and pin point areas which could be targeted by new drugs.<\/p>\n

Ms Marshall said they had identified a ‘crevice’ which would be an ideal area to aim a molecule which could be specially designed to block CRF1 – effectively disabling it.<\/p>\n

She said the team now hope to use this research method to analyse molecules involved in type 2 diabetes – with the hope of one day developing a drug which can be taken orally as opposed to the injections which sufferers of the condition have to use. – Daily Mail<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0Scientists have found the brain’s ‘misery molecule’ believed to be responsible for all of our feelings of stress and anxiety. Researchers believe that the protein – named CRF1 – could also be linked to depression. A team from Heptares Therapeutics, a medical company based in Hertfordshire, used one of the world’s most powerful x-ray machines … Continue reading “Scientists discover brain’s misery molecule”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":7584,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,229],"tags":[4129,4128,1543,2510],"class_list":["post-7583","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-science","tag-anxiety","tag-brain","tag-depression","tag-stress"],"cc_featured_image_caption":{"caption_text":false,"source_text":false,"source_url":false},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/praag.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/brain2.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7583","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7583"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7583\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7586,"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7583\/revisions\/7586"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7584"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7583"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7583"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7583"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}