Professor of Psychology Aileen Bailey and alumni (Allison Barrett ‘18, Lane Havens ‘19, Erica Leyder ‘18, Taylor Merchant ‘19, Hannah Starnes ‘17) recently published an article entitled “Changes in social, sexual, and hedonic behaviors in rats in response to stress and restoration by a negative allosteric modulator of a5-subunit containing GABA receptor” in the journal Behavioural Brain Research.
Common pharmaceutical treatments for Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) such as SSRIs are slow to alleviate anhedonia (inability to experience reward) and are not effective for everyone. However, there are new promising treatments under development including drugs that target specific a5-subunit containing GABA-A receptors (GABA-NAMs) in the brain. Dr. Bailey and her students found that a specific GABA-NAM (L-655,708) reversed depressive-like anhedonic behavior within 24 hours of administration in a rodent model. These findings support research suggesting that GABA-NAMs may present a new therapeutic approach to treating MDD.
