Adult brain neurogenesis and psychiatry: a novel theory of depression
Top Cited Papers
Open Access
- 1 May 2000
- journal article
- review article
- Published by Springer Nature in Molecular Psychiatry
- Vol. 5 (3) , 262-269
- https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.mp.4000712
Abstract
Neurogenesis (the birth of new neurons) continues postnatally and into adulthood in the brains of many animal species, including humans. This is particularly prominent in the dentate gyrus of the hippocampal formation. One of the factors that potently suppresses adult neurogenesis is stress, probably due to increased glucocorticoid release. Complementing this, we have recently found that increasing brain levels of serotonin enhance the basal rate of dentate gyrus neurogenesis. These and other data have led us to propose the following theory regarding clinical depression. Stress-induced decreases in dentate gyrus neurogenesis are an important causal factor in precipitating episodes of depression. Reciprocally, therapeutic interventions for depression that increase serotonergic neurotransmission act at least in part by augmenting dentate gyrus neurogenesis and thereby promoting recovery from depression. Thus, we hypothesize that the waning and waxing of neurogenesis in the hippocampal formation are important causal factors, respectively, in the precipitation of, and recovery from, episodes of clinical depression.Keywords
This publication has 58 references indexed in Scilit:
- Clinical Correlates of Major Depression in Cushing’s DiseasePsychopathology, 1998
- Psychosomatic Aspects of Cushing’s DiseasePsychotherapy and Psychosomatics, 1998
- Effects of Antiglucocorticoid Treatment on 5-HT1A Function in Depressed Patients and Healthy SubjectsNeuropsychopharmacology, 1997
- More hippocampal neurons in adult mice living in an enriched environmentNature, 1997
- Gonadal and adrenal steroids regulate neurochemical and structural plasticity of the hippocampus via cellular mechanisms involving NMDA receptorsCellular and Molecular Neurobiology, 1996
- Immunocytochemical localization of serotonin1A receptors in the rat central nervous systemJournal of Comparative Neurology, 1996
- Adult neurogenesis is regulated by adrenal steroids in the dentate gyrusNeuroscience, 1994
- Brain basic fibroblast growth factor stimulates the proliferation of rat neuronal precursor cells in vitroFEBS Letters, 1987
- Time of neuron origin in the hippocampus and dentate gyrus of normal and reeler mutant mice: An autoradiographic analysisJournal of Comparative Neurology, 1973
- Autoradiographic and histological evidence of postnatal hippocampal neurogenesis in ratsJournal of Comparative Neurology, 1965