Recently developed medications used to treat this condition work by imitating the neurosteroid allopregnanolone (ah-loe-PREG-nan-noe-lone”). For 10 points each:
[10h] Name this condition that, since 2019, can be treated using brexanolone (“BREKS-an-noe-lone”). Individuals suffering from this psychological condition are often assigned a score of thirteen or higher on the Edinburgh scale.
ANSWER: postpartum depression [or PPD; accept postnatal depression; accept perinatal depression; accept peripartum depression; prompt on depression]
[10e] Mothers suffering from postpartum depression can also be prescribed sertraline, an SSRI that works by inhibiting neurons from reuptaking this mood-regulating neurotransmitter.
ANSWER: serotonin [or 5-hydroxytryptamine or 5-HT; accept selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors]
[10m] In some cases, postpartum depression is caused by dysfunction in a CRH-induced signaling axis that ends at this structure. It’s not in the brain, but most of the body’s catecholamines (“KAH-teh-KOE-lah-meenz”) are secreted from this structure’s medulla.
ANSWER: adrenal gland [accept adrenal medulla; prompt on HPA axis; prompt on chromaffin cells with “chromaffin cells are found in what structure?”]
<Benjamin McAvoy-Bickford, Biology>