“Depression is living in a body that fights to survive with a mind that tries to die!”
It is said to be the second biggest cause of disability in the world. It is a poorly understood illness, often wrongly associated with some sort of moral weakness or mental frailty.
For years many studies were done to prove the significance of fish oil as depression treatment. According to research done by the University of East Anglia last year, Omega -3 fatty acid had no effect on anxiety and depression. But the good news is recently in a new study a patients stem cells were used to model major depressive disorder and tested how they may respond to medication. Interestingly, fish oil, when tested in the model, created an antidepressant response!
Using stem cells from adults with a clinical diagnosis of depression, researchers from the University of Illinois at Chicago, who conducted the study also found that fish oil, when tested in the model, created an antidepressant response.
UIC’s Mark Rasenick, the principal investigator of the study, says that the research provides a number of novel findings that can help scientists better understand how the brain works and why some people respond to drug treatment for depression, while others experience limited benefits from antidepressant medication. In the study, the UIC researchers used skin cells from adults with depression that were converted into stem cells (special human cells that are able to develop into many different cell types) at Massachusetts General Hospital and then directed those stem cells to develop into nerve cells.
The skin biopsies were taken from two types of patients: people who previously responded to antidepressant treatment and people who have previously been resistant to antidepressants.
When fish oil was tested, the models from treatment-sensitive and treatment-resistant patients both responded. Fish oil primarily contains two types of omega-3 fatty acids — eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), which are well known for heart health and skin benefits. Fish oil supplements, especially those that contain higher amounts of EPA, may improve depressive symptoms in people with depression. They appear to have the greatest effects on those who are already taking antidepressant medications.
Rasenick says the response was similar to that seen from prescription antidepressants, but it was produced through a different mechanism. ”We saw that fish oil was acting, in part, on glial cells, not neurons,” said Rasenick, who is also a research career scientist at Jesse Brown VA Medical Center and president and chief scientific officer at Pax Neuroscience, a UIC startup company.
Clinical depression needs medical treatment. We should never forget that mental health is as important as physical health. It’s exciting and hopeful that an easy to get a natural product like fish oil could be an effective treatment for depression.
References: https://www.uic.edu/
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