A recent study offers insight into the disabling depression undergone by many women throughout early motherhood. The research, which was published in the July 31 edition of the journal Neuron, shows innovative details regarding the pathogenesis of postnatal depression and offers a mouse model which may trigger to the development of new treatments for mood disorders linked to pregnancy.

Postpartum depression is a form of clinical depression that can affect women, and less frequently men, after childbirth. The disorder is associated with the changing the levels of steroid hormones in the brain. Nonetheless, studies aimed to mimic hormonal fluctuations during pregnancy only elicit depression in women having a record of postpartum depression. This insinuates that hormone alterations alone don’t lead to this condition.

However, the study hasn’t been made in humans, pointed out Dr. Bernard Carroll, scientific director of the Pacific Behavioral Research Foundation in California. It is true that mice appear to suffer from a disease similar to postnatal depression, but drawing the conclusion that the two conditions are identical isn’t possible. "We have to remember that the model is not the disease," he added.

Study’s lead author Dr. Istvan Mody from the Department of Neurology at the University of California, said: "The pathogenesis of postpartum depression remains unclear, mainly due to the lack of useful animal models to study such a complex disorder."

A chemical called GABA can reduce the activity of particular nerve cells after making contact with receptors on that cell's surface. The dysregulation of these receptors may generate post-delivery mood disorders ranging from "baby blues," loss of appetite and energy to postpartum psychosis.