A UPI report:

Canadian scientists are using a breed of permanently 'cheerful' mice to research a new treatment for clinical depression. By breeding mice with an absence of TREK-1—a gene that can affect serotonin transmission in the brain—researchers were able create a depression-resistant strain.

'Depression is a devastating illness, which affects around 10 percent of people at some point in their life,' said Dr. Guy Debonnel, a psychiatrist and professor at McGill University in Montreal.

Debonnel, principal author of the new research, notes current medications for clinical depression are ineffective for a third of patients, which is why the development of alternate treatments is so important. The so-called knock-out mice were created in collaboration with Michel Lazdunski, co-author of the research, in his laboratory at the University of Nice, France.

'These `knock-out` mice were then tested using separate behavioral, electrophysiological and biochemical measures known to gauge `depression` in animals,' said Debonnel. 'The results really surprised us; our `knock-out` mice acted as if they had been treated with antidepressants for at least three weeks.'

The research—representing the first time depression has been eliminated through genetic alteration—is detailed in the journal Nature Neuroscience.

Isn't that delightful? I love the idea of those happy mice running on their wheels and grooming each other and generally enjoying life, perhaps with extra corn kernels. Could this be important to the development of preventive medicine for depression? It's hard to imagine how the research could transfer to treatment. I suppose you could get a fairy godmother to turn you into a happy mouse, but then you'd have to contend with an abbreviated life, and no movies.

[This image is of Little Gray and White, may she rest in peace. She loved playing on the kitchen table.]