Pass The Prozac: Fruit Flies Get Depressed, Too
Sadfly When faced with impossible circumstances beyond their control, animals hunker down as they develop sleep or eating disorders, ulcers, and other physical manifestations of depression. Now, researchers report that the same type of thing happens to flies. That means flies could be used to study depression and even test antidepressant drugs. Wikimedia CommonsThe discovery of depression-like behavior in insects shows depression has deep roots in the animal kingdom. Depressed animals, including humans, develop several physical symptoms related to their feelings of helplessness or despair. Now it turns out something similar happens in flies, which could mean researchers may have a new way to test depression and drugs that can treat it. Fruit flies are already useful models for neuroscientists, so this is an intriguing development. It also shows depression has a deep biological basis, according to the authors of this new study, led by Martin Heisenberg of the Rudolf Virchow Center...