Found: Peptide In Humans' Brains That Keeps Us Alert And Happy
Pass The Peptides See-ming Lee via Wikimedia Commons A new study explores the relationship between narcolepsy and depression. Everyone wants to figure out the the secret key to happiness. Maybe it's power, or money, or a social thing. Or maybe it's related to watching adorable chimps see the sky for the first time. Or, like most things, it could just be in your head. According to a group of UCLA researchers, the key to happiness lies in a certain neurotransmitter called hypocretin. When study subjects were happy, hypocretin levels soared. When the were sad, hypocretin levels decreased. This has implications for both depression treatment and the study of narcolepsy, as the sleep disorder and depression often go hand in hand. The study, from last week's Nature Communications, looked at the release of two peptides (chemical compounds with two or more bonded amino acids) in the brain -- MCH, or...