What is it about?
Greater anhedonic behavior, without changes in behavioral despair, was seen in Cryptochrome Circadian Clock 2 (Cry2) knockout mice, as compared with their wild-type littermates. These results indicated that Cry2 has a critical role in the control of depressive-like emotional states in the mouse.
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Why is it important?
This is the first report to show that deficient Cry2, a gene encoding the actual repressor or "the breaks" of the circadian clock, associates with anhedonia that is a key feature of depression.
Perspectives
A direct causal link between Cry2 and depression has not been established. Here, a genetic mouse model of Cry2 deficiency was employed to test the direct link of Cry2 to depressive-like behavior. It was the first step taken for the experiments of CRY2 Expedition (see http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23133436), and these data suggest that Cry2 is relevant to the anhedonic endophenotype of depression.
Professor Timo Partonen
National Institute for Health and Welfare
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Anhedonic behavior in cryptochrome 2-deficient mice is paralleled by altered diurnal patterns of amygdala gene expression, Amino Acids, March 2015, Springer Science + Business Media,
DOI: 10.1007/s00726-015-1968-3.
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