Key to mental 'resilience' found

Key to mental 'resilience' found - BBC News
2007.10.19
"...a key pathway in mice differs in those who cope well with stress, and those who do not...In the mice who did not cope well with stress, nerve cells fired signals at a faster rate in two areas of the brain associated with pleasure and reward, releasing a substance called BDNF, which has previously been linked to poor coping...The resilient mice had no increase in BDNF, probably because the neurons were firing less rapidly...Blocking BDNF in the timid mice caused them to become more resistant to stress...In mice who coped better with stress, there were also greater regulation of genes in the key brain regions, suggesting resilience to such conditions is an active process rather than a lack of a response...Analysis of brain samples from depressed and non-depressed humans, showed that depressed people have a 40% increased level of BDNF... "

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