Eric Nestler Quotations

Maybe there's a faster or better way to treat depression if you approach the problem from two different directions.

One of the cardinal features of addiction is how long-lived it is, ... A key question in the field has been: By what mechanisms do drugs of abuse cause changes in the brain that last this long?

Our study provides insight into how chronic stress triggers changes in the brain that are much more long-lived than the effects of existing antidepressants.

Our study provides a fundamentally new level of analysis by which we can better understand the actions of cocaine in brain-reward regions at the molecular level. It also points to new potential treatments for addiction.

Removal of BDNF before bullying, or treatment with antidepressants after bullying, both removed the behavioral abnormality observed.

That would make addiction more inheritable than diseases we commonly think of as genetic, such as adult onset diabetes or common hypertension.

Without BDNF in the circuit, an animal can't learn that a social stimulus is threatening and respond appropriately.

The social-defeat process induced production of BDNF in the reward circuit. Without BDNF in the circuit, an animal can't learn that a social stimulus is threatening and respond accordingly.

The molecular scar induced by chronic stress in the hippocampus, and perhaps elsewhere in the brain, can't be easily reversed. To really cure depression, we probably need to find new treatments that can remove the silencer molecules.

The challenge is to find a way to inhibit BDNF signaling within the reward pathway specifically. The many genes we show that are regulated by BDNF or antidepressants in this pathway may provide clues.