Challenging convention, a study suggests that antidepressants such as Prozac lift depression by affecting brain-steroid production.

Griffin, L.D., and S.H. Mellon. 1999. Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors directly alter activity of neurosteroidogenic enzymes. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 96(Nov. 9):13512.

Travis, J. 1999. By a nose, worms reveal new Prozac targets. Science News 156(Sept. 25):196.

Lisa D. Griffin
University of California, San Francisco
Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Sciences
Department of Neurology
San Francisco, CA 94143-0556

Synthia H. Mellon
University of California, San Francisco
Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Sciences
Center for Reproductive Sciences and
The Metabolic Research Unit
Box 0556
San Francisco, CA 94143-0556

From Science News, Vol. 156, No. 23, December 4, 1999, p. 365. Copyright © 1999, Science Service.