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Updated: Sep 23, 2025

Using a Murine Model of Psychosocial Stress in Pregnancy as a Translationally Relevant Paradigm for Psychiatric Disorders in Mothers and Infants
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Allopregnanolone in Postpartum Depression

Graziano Pinna1, Felipe B Almeida1,2, John M Davis1

  • 1The Psychiatric Institute, Department of Psychiatry, College of Medicine, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL, United States.

Frontiers in Global Women'S Health
|May 13, 2022
PubMed

Postpartum depression (PPD) is a debilitating psychiatric disorder characterized by a high worldwide prevalence and serious long-term negative outcomes for both mothers and children. The lack of a specific treatment and overreliance on pharmacotherapy with limited efficacy and delayed treatment response has constituted a complication in the management of PPD. Recently, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the USA approved a synthetic formulation of the GABAergic neurosteroid allopregnanolone, administered intravenously (brexanolone) for the rapid, long-lasting and effective treatment of PPD. Hereinafter, we review findings on allopregnanolone biosynthesis and GABAA receptor plasticity in the pathophysiology of PPD. We also discuss evidence supporting the efficacy of brexanolone for the treatment of PPD, which opens a promising new horizon for neurosteroid-based therapeutics for mood disorders.

Keywords:
GABAA receptorsallopregnanolonebrexanoloneneurosteroid-based therapeuticspost-partum depressionrapid-acting antidepressants

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