Depression
Depression affects over 19 million Americans and hundreds of thousands of American military personnel. A large body of research now indicates that stress and anxiety can result in hindered blood flow and microvascular dysfunction in areas of the brain critical for emotion and mood, including the hippocampus. We believe infusion of our drug could repair the damaged brain vasculature in these stress-sensitive areas of the brain could improve mood and depression with a resultant decrease in suicidal thoughts and actions. Although behavior modification and anti-depressants can have some benefit in treating these patients, therapies that address the underlying physiological mechanism of depression are sorely needed.