hide
Free keywords:
-
Abstract:
Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is an effective therapy for several psychiatric disorders, including severe major depression,
mania and certain forms of schizophrenia. It had been proposed that ECT acts by modulating local plasticity via the
stimulation of neurogenesis. In fact, among antidepressant therapies, ECT is the most robust enhancer of neurogenesis in
the hippocampus of rodents and non-human primates. The existence of ECT-triggered neurogenesis in other brain areas,
particularly in those adjacent to the other main locus of neurogenesis, the subventricular zone (SVZ), had so far remained
unknown. Here we show that ECT also strongly enhances neurogenesis in frontal brain areas, especially in the rostro-medial
striatum, generating specific, small-size calretinin-positive interneurons. We provide here the first evidence that ECT
stimulates neurogenesis in areas outside the hippocampus. Our data may open research possibilities that focus on the
plastic changes induced by ECT in frontal limbic circuitry.
