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Blue feelings arrive with winter's darkness.  Skammdegisthunglyndi Icelanders called it, meaning short day-heavy mood.  Nearly 5% of the world's population - 80% of whom are women - experience winter's blackness with depressive symptoms.  Lacking energy, irritable, and melancholic, they avoid activities, crave carbohydrates, sleep excessively, and pray for spring.  In 1984 these symptoms acquired a name: SAD, seasonal affective disorder, and a putative pathogenesis: an over-supply of the neurohormone melatonin resulting from light deficiency.  Two-thirds of SAD sufferers respond to light therapy and they display more than a happier mood - their blood also shows increased levels of serotonin (5-HT).  SAD tends to run in families as do other psychiatric disorders.  There is a correlation between SAD and depletion of the amino acid tryptophan - a precursor of both serotonin and melatonin.  Studies show that people inheriting the short version of the serotonin transporter gene (5-HTTLPR) display serotonin dysfunction and higher levels of depression.

Related records from CAplus

137: 4393  Role of family history and 5-HTTLPR polymorphism in female seasonal affective disorder patients with and without premenstrual dysphoric disorder.  Praschak-Rieder, Nicole; Willeit, Matthaus; Winkler, Dietmar; Neumeister, Alexander; Hilger, Eva; Zill, Peter; Hornik, Kurt; Stastny, Jurgen; Thierry, Nikolaus; Ackenheil, Manfred; Bondy, Brigitta; Kasper, Siegfried (Department of General Psychiatry,  University of Vienna,  Vienna,  Austria). European Neuropsychopharmacology 2002, 12(2), 129-134 (Eng.) Seasonal affective disorder (SAD) and premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD) share many clin. features, and have been assocd. with brain serotonin dysfunction. Females with SAD frequently fulfil the diagnostic criteria for PMDD. A polymorphism in the serotonin transporter promoter gene (5-HTTLPR) has been assocd. with SAD.  We investigated the role of family history and 5-HTTLPR in female SAD patients with and without PMDD.  Forty-four SAD females with, and 43 SAD females without PMDD, were genotyped for 5-HTTLPR.  Family history of affective disorders in first degree relatives was assessed.  An assocn. between the presence of PMDD and family history (P=0.0029) and 5-HTTLPR long/short allele-heterozygosity (P=0.033) was found in females with SAD.  PMDD and SAD may share genetic vulnerability factors, one candidate gene being 5-HTTLPR.  The elevated rate of affective disorders in relatives of patients with SAD and PMDD suggests higher genetic vulnerability in this subgroup when compared to patients with SAD alone.

145: 333066  Susceptibility of depression and polymorphisms of serotonin transporter gene.  Dui, Lidong; Tan, Qingrong; Zhang, Fenggang; Zhang, Ruiguo; Guo, Li; Zhang, Yahong (Xijing Hospital, Fourth Military Medical University of Chinese PLA,  Xian, Shanxi Province,  Peop. Rep. China).  Zhongguo Linchuang Kangfu  2005, 9(20), 140-141, 1 plate (Chinese).  The genotypes and allele frequency of serotonin transport 5-HTTLPR gene-linked polymorphic region of 60 depressive patients (patient group) and 65 normal people (control group) were detected to explore the relation of 5-HTTLPR polymorphism and depressionThe patients with depression had higher frequencies of short/short (S/S) genotype and S allele of 5-HTTLPR than normal people.  S allele in 5-HTTLPR gene might be one of the predisposing genes of depression.

Related structures from CAS REGISTRY

5-Hydroxytryptamine (5HT; serotonin) CAS Registry Number: 50-67-9

L-Tryptophan CAS Registry Number:  73-22-3

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CAS and the Colors of Chemistry

• Why do icebergs glow with a violet or green light?
• What causes a clear diamond to look blue?
• How do fireflies produce their yellow glow? 

The quest for answers to perplexing questions such as these will occupy us into the next millenium.  The information in the CAS databases could well provide the clues, links, and ideas for connecting these past mysteries with future discoveries.

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