From left to right: the NMDA and AMPA receptors transport calcium cations into neurons after being activated by the neurotransmitter glutamate and the GABA receptor (right) transport chloride anions after the activation by gamma aminobutyrate. [Adobe Stock]
Much of the world is grappling with a mental health crisis — with soaring rates of depression and anxiety. Last year, the startup Gate Neurosciences emerged with a novel approach. While the Carmel, Indiana–based company is focused on synaptic plasticity like many other contemporary CNS companies, it diverges in its strategy. Rather than using a traditional occupancy-based model, which intends to achieve therapeutic effects by ensuring the continued presence of the drug in the body and binding at target receptors, the company’s aim is to ensure that effects persist even after a drug is no longer biochemically active in the body Gate’s approach to even…