Research team at UT Southwestern make breakthrough in treatment for depression
Shelly Kavitz
Dakota County Technical College
Researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have made incredible breakthroughs
that could lead to powerful treatment for depression. One of the leading researchers is Dr. Jeffrey
Zigman, associate professor of internal medicine and psychiatry at UT Southwestern. UT
Southwestern Medical Center is located in Dallas, Texas in the United States. This medical
center houses several researchers, but Dr. Zigman is noted as identifying major breakthroughs in
treating depression by conducting a study where they uncovered an important mechanism by
which ghrelin-a natural antidepressant hormone-works inside the brain. Ghrelin is a hormone
that increases appetite, it is released primarily in the stomach and intestines, and is thought to
signal hunger in the brain. This is probably the reason that Ghrelin is called “the hunger
hormone”. This “hunger hormone”, is a peptide produced by ghrelin cells in the gastrointestinal
tract which functions as a neuropeptide in the central nervous system.
