Scientists discover roles of hypothalamic amino acid sensing in antidepressant effects (Leucine restriction reverses depression)

Medical Xpress / Higher Education Press / Life Metabolism ^ | March 3, 2023 | Feixiang Yuan et al

[ConservativeMind]

Depression is a leading cause of disability around the world and contributes greatly to the global burden of disease. Nutrition is essential for the maintenance of normal emotional states. Nutritional therapy is rising up in many disease treatments, but little is known in the depression field. Unbalanced nutrition is implicated in the etiology of depression, potentially hindering treatment.

For example, many essential amino acids (EAAs) in serum are changed in patients with depression, such as tryptophan, threonine, leucine, isoleucine, and valine. However, whether EAA contributes to depression and the underlying mechanisms remain largely unknown.

Now, researchers, led by Feifan Guo, have found that leucine deficient diet has antidepressant effects on chronic restraint stress-induced depression-related behaviors and revealed the mechanism of amino acid sensing in hypothalamic agouti-related peptide (AgRP) neurons.

In this study, leucine deficient diet was found to have antidepressant effects on chronic restraint stress-induced depression-related behaviors in both genders of mice. Interestingly, the amino acid deficient effects apply to all essential amino acids. The researchers found that the response to leucine deprivation is mediated by the hypothalamus, a specific region that mainly regulates appetite and energy metabolism.

This study established that an unexpected dietary pattern, leucine deprivation, not nutrition supplement, results in antidepressant effects, and this regulation is mediated by a group of orexigenic neurons, AgRP neurons. Furthermore, these results suggest a new function of GCN2 signal in AgRP neurons under imbalanced amino acid and chronic stress.

As leucine deprivation could also help with losing weight and improve glucose metabolism, this diet pattern may help to relieve the antidepressant drug-induced obesity in future applications. This study provides a new perspective for exploring the relation of nutrition, hypothalamus, and depression.

[ConservativeMind]

Leucine is a normal amino acid we consume.

[ConservativeMind]

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[devane617]

More please...

[devane617]

So this article seems to say it is healthy(see below), yet the article you posted seems to say it may cause depression. I’m confused:

https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/10-high-leucine-foods

[ConservativeMind]

It’s normally an important amino acid.

It’s just that they found it appears to encourage depressive issues, in some.

[nagant]

this regulation is mediated by a group of orexigenic neurons, AgRP neurons.
~~~~~
The orexin (hypocretin) nervous system is extremely primitive. It changes body states between Eat, Sleep, and Flee by releasing chemicals into various organs.

https://www.karger.com/Article/FullText/514960

[arthurus]

Sunshine is easier and has less chance of side effects.

[unlearner]

Perhaps muscle-building exercise helps avoid excessive EAAs building up in the system. It does help a lot of folks with depression.

Also, there is a similar correlation between sleep and mental health. Nearly all mental health issues (except depression) appear in sleep-deprived individuals. Depression actually tends to be less severe when individuals get less sleep than is otherwise optimum. But for most mental health issues, it’s best to get plenty of sleep.

As an example, going without sleep for more than 3 days will cause hallucinations.

[sauropod]

.