Many adults find themselves with depressive disorder and dealing with the deteriorating symptoms of it. They can feel sad, empty, and having decreased interest in doing things they once loved to do among many other symptoms. It is more likely for women to experience and be diagnosed with depression than men. Researchers are trying to find how depression was different in both men and women. This would help treatments be better tailored to each individual person for them to be more effective.
In the study “Sex differences in the transcription of glutamate transporters in major depression and suicide” they researched how the glutamate transporter gene expression in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) varied between men and women (Powers et al. 2020) They found that females with major depressive disorder had an increase in gene expression. They also found that females displayed upregulated mRNA encoding glutamate transporters (GLUTS). In the study “Gender Differences in Depression: Evidence from Genetics”, they wanted to investigate the differences in gender when examining factors such as heritability and the genes that are associated with depression. They wanted to further examine a transporter gene-linked promoter region known as 5-HTTLPR, its relationship with serotonin, and how both contributed to depression. They found that there were differences in heritability of depression in both men and women. They also found that genetically, depression could be caused by specific genes and the environment. They found that those who died by suicide and those who didn’t have different GLUTS levels.
According to Zhao et al. (2020), depression is hereditary and those who have depressed parents often have increased symptoms of depression themselves as well as greater internalization. They saw that in adolescence; girls began to experience depression. This was predicted to be due to biological and pubertal changes. As adolescents are maturing so is their cognitive mind, this caused genetic changes in the body which also turns on depressive symptoms. This is higher in females than males. This could partially be due to all the hormonal changes in the body as an adolescent is maturing physically and mentally. They found that in some people, 5-HTTLPR would lead to people developing symptoms related to depression when they were in a negative environment. This could be due to the pressure and experience a person may be going through that puts them at a higher risk of developing depression. Overall, the research was able to show how the environment can impact the gene regions which in turn contributes to experiencing more depressive symptoms.
As seen from both studies, more research still needs to be done. Research needs to be done more specifically working with male subjects. By doing so, they would be able to develop a treatment that is more specific to the gender rather than having the same medication used for both men and women. For this reason, it is important that many factors are taken into consideration when diagnosing and treating depression from a physicians stance as well.
Sources:
Powers, B., Joyce, C., Kleinman, J. E., Hyde, T. M., Ajilore, O., Leow, A., & Sodhi, M. S. (2020). Sex differences in the transcription of glutamate transporters in major depression and suicide. Journal of affective disorders, 277, 244-252. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2020.07.055
Zhao, L., Han, G., Zhao, Y., Jin, Y., Ge, T., Yang, W., Cui, R., Xu, S., & Li, B. (2020). Gender Differences in Depression: Evidence From Genetics. Frontiers in genetics, 11, 56562316. https://doi.org/10.3389/fgene.2020.562316
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