Neurosteroids may provide help for depression

More and more research indicates that neurosteroids can help those who have not found relief from any of the standard treatment regimens. Scientists from India have compiled data from dozens of studies and shown that these molecules work differently and often faster and more effectively.

What makes them so special? Neurosteroids help the brain ‘switch’ from anxiety to calm. They affect the areas that control stress, memory, and emotional stability. And most importantly, they influence the brain’s plasticity, its ability to recover.

A team of researchers led by Kruti Nagpurkar conducted a large-scale review covering both laboratory experiments and clinical trials. The study focused on people with severe depression that could not be overcome by two or more different medications. Neurosteroids such as allopregnanolone, pregnenolone and DHEA had a noticeable effect on them — improvement was rapid and sustained.

In the United States, one of the neurosteroids, brexanolone, is already being used to treat postpartum depression. However, widespread use is still a long way off: the drug is difficult to obtain, and its long-term effects have not yet been thoroughly studied.

Nevertheless, the conclusions are optimistic. Neurosteroids work in several ways at once — they calm, restore chemical balance and stimulate neural connections. This distinguishes them favourably from conventional antidepressants, which are based on a single hypothesis — the monoamine hypothesis.

Researchers are confident that we are on the verge of a real breakthrough in the treatment of depression. Ahead lie new clinical trials, new approaches and, perhaps, new hope for those whom medicine cannot help today.