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Blue genes: wiring the brain for depression

How do genes act in the brain to influence susceptibility to mental illness? An imaging study suggests that healthy carriers of a gene variant associated with depression risk have decreased brain volume and neural coupling in affective circuitry involved in depression.

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Figure 1: Differences in processing of emotional stimuli between s allele carriers (blue arrows) and homozygous l allele carriers (yellow arrows).

Debbie Maizels

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Hamann, S. Blue genes: wiring the brain for depression. Nat Neurosci 8, 701–703 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1038/nn0605-701

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