Both of these studies showed that antidepressants reversed
the neuroatropy that stress was causing in the dentate gyrus. It seemed that
the first study done by Santerelli et al was shortsighted in that it either
didn’t check for other affected brain areas that could have mediated the
antidepressant effects. That was where the Bessa et al paper comes in, they
looked at many brain areas and found that the PFC and hippocampus were both
involved and that the neuroplasticity of these areas rather then just the making
of new neurons was the cause of antidepressant effects.
I thought that Santerelli laid good groundwork that was
expounded upon by Bessa and allowed for them to question the legitimacy of
Santerelli’s results. Bessa made direct comment on how Santerelli et al
interpreted the data they collected as needed neurogenesis in order to perceive
antidepressant effects, but in contrast to that Bessa comment on how the PFC
and the hippocampus play large roles in the manifestation of depressive
behaviors. The integration of systems that results in behavior, especially
depressive behavior, is so complex that attempting to reason that
antidepressant effects only work based on a small area of neurogenesis was
limited in its thinking. That’s why I believe the Bessa paper provided more
evidence and concrete science behind their claims that multiple brain areas are
integral in allowing for antidepressants to modulate their effects.
More generally
for both papers, I had a problem with the animal modeling of these types of
diseases. I realize that the methods formed to induce depression are probably
as good an approximation as possible, but the mild stressing may cause many
conditions in the rat in association with or completely separate from
depression. Thus it is difficult to say that these studies and their findings
will carry over to the human condition. That makes me question the legitimacy of
many scientific findings when it comes to psychological conditions. Although in
the case with these two papers I think it is comparable chemical effects seen
in the rat that could occur in humans.
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