In recent years, doctors have made progress in identifying what goes wrong in the brains of depressed patients. Researchers are especially interested in the role of stress hormones. Now, a colony of 40 squirrel monkeys, housed in a medical center basement, might provide some answers.
By looking at genetic and environmental factors at play in the animals, David Lyons, a senior research scientist in psychiatry, is learning more about the neurobiology of depression.
The work is one of about 20 projects in the Nancy Pritzker Network on Depression Research. Scientists from Cornell, Michigan and Stanford share information on their research. The Pritzker family, Chicago philanthropists, established a lab at Stanford two decades ago in memory of Nancy Pritzker, '70.
The tiny squirrel monkeys are the key to Lyons's work. He varies their access to food and their mothers' care, then monitors the resulting stress hormone levels using brain scans. One surprise has been the strong link between the monkeys' ability to handle stress and their genetic makeup. "We thought it depends on how the mother treats the kids," says Alan Schatzberg, chair of the psychiatry department. "It seems to come from the genetic background of the father, who is not even involved with them."
