Intron retention can be an excellent marker for evaluating the depressed state and useful for discovering new pathways in the recovery of depression by Japanese herbal medecine

This study will detect in peripheral bolod mononuclear cells (PBMCs) the intron retention (IR) signals produced by stress due to depression in humans, or the accumulation of IR that has already occurred. A correlation network of changes in alternative splicing through time and changes in gene expression will be established and validated by administration of Japanese herbal medicine.