How to make a stress vaccine

摘要

We all produce a chemical called neuropeptide Y (NPY) that acts like an on-off switch to modulate our body's stress response. Intriguingly, a single injection of NPY before a stressful experience seems to protect animals from some of the negative consequences of stress. This discovery inspired lames Murrough and Dennis Charney at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York to try a similar approach for people with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Their team gave each volunteer an intranasal dose of NPY before they read a story designed to elicit their PTSD. Although only a small pilot study, it hinted that NPY might offer relief from some PTSD symptoms. There was a problem though: it took an hour of inhalation and a specially designed gadget to get enough of the chemical into people's brains.