Depression is a common and debilitating mental illness that affects millions of people worldwide. While there are several effective treatments for depression, many patients do not respond to these treatments or experience side effects.

A recent study published in the journal Nature Communications has identified a potential new drug target for treating depression. The researchers focused on a protein called L-type calcium channel α1D, which plays a key role in the regulation of mood-related behaviors.

Using a mouse model of depression, the researchers found that blocking the activity of this protein led to an improvement in depressive symptoms. They also found that the protein was overactive in the brains of depressed mice and in post-mortem brain tissue from people with depression.

The lead author of the study, Dr. Jian Feng, said that the results were "exciting" and showed that targeting this protein could be a promising new approach to treating depression.

"This protein is a novel drug target for treating depression," Dr. Feng said. "We hope that our findings will lead to the development of new drugs that can help more people with depression."

Reference：https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5509628/