“Misery Molecule” Pinned Down by Scientists

A team of scientists writing in a recent issue of the journal Nature documents the discovery of the so-called misery molecule.

The compound is a protein named CFR1, and researchers say that its presence in the brain is what causes people to experience feelings of anxiety and stress.

Additionally, some maintain that the protein can also be held accountable for the onset of depression.

As reported by Colorado Newsday, the discovery of this protein was made by scientists working with Hertfordshire-based medical company Heptares Therapeutics.

These researchers chose to go looking for this tricky compound in the pituitary gland, which has long been known to control stress, depression and anxiety.

They maintain that the CRF1 protein sits in the outer membranes of pituitary cells. It picks up on stress chemicals sent into the blood stream by the hypothalamus, and then compels its parent cell to release hormones that foster feelings of anxiety, stress and even depression.

It was discovered with the help of the Diamond Light Source, i.e. one of the world's most powerful X-ray machines, the same source details.

“Stress-related diseases such as depression and anxiety affect a quarter of adults each year, but what many people don't realize is that these conditions are controlled by proteins in the brain, one of which is CRF1,” researcher Fiona Marshall reportedly said in a statement.

“What we have done is to work out its structure, which tells us how it works and, potentially, means we can design drugs to control it,” she further detailed.

What Fiona Marshall means to say is that the protein sports a crevice where molecules of new drugs could “land,” thus altering existing structures in such ways that the protein gets blocked.

“Now we know its shape, we can design a molecule that will lock into this crevice and block it so that CRF1 becomes inactive – ending the biochemical cascade that ends in stress,” the researcher argued.

Should the scientists manage to disable this protein, stress, anxiety and depression would be easier to treat.