Optigenetic approach in investigations of pathophysiology and therapy of depression

Glutamatergic neurotransmission and neurotransmitter systems that operate together with it ensure the functioning of brain mechanisms that control the psychoemotional state. Currently, there is convincing evidence of involvement of the key brain structures regulating emotions, such as prefrontal cortex, hippocampus, nucleus accumbens, ventral tegmental area, the serotonergic raphe nuclei and amygdala in the pathogenesis of depression and the therapeutic effects of antidepressants. Disturbance of the balance between "exciting" and "inhibiting" signals to these areas, as evidenced by experimental and clinical data, obviously underlies depressive psychoemotional disorders. Efforts to unrevel the mechanisms of depression and antidepressant responses have received considerable support in connection with the development and implementation of optogenetic techniques in research practice. Studies of recent years, using an optogenetic approach that would facilitate the translation of their main results, considered in the review, to the clinic.