Fig. 1.

Mechanistic model of integrated biological networks for the regulation of brain plasticity. Converging evidence implicate a role for the mitochondrial mediator of epigenetic function acetyl-L-carnitine (LAC) in depression. Recent studies reported decreased levels of LAC in clinical endophenotypes of depression. Preclinical studies showed that supplementation of LAC leads to a rapid antidepressant-like response by promoting epigenetic regulation of glutamatergic function and corresponding changes in specific aspects of neuroplasticity, including dendritic elongation of discrete hippocampal neurons.