Week 1: Santarelli and Bessa

Santarelli et al. (2003) and Bessa et al. (2009) introduce interesting points in the importance of hippocampal neurogenesis in the alleviation of depressive signs and symptoms. However, to me the most interesting aspect of these articles is the positive impact that antidepressants have on all individuals, even control groups. “About half of the people…49 percent, said they'd had a major stressful event or experience in the past year” (Henley and Hurt 2014). “Stress-an environmental factor capable of precipitating depressive episodes in humans-causes cell death, dendritic shrinkage, and decreased levels of neurotrophins within the hippocampus” (Santarelli et al., 2003). So, if almost half of all individuals experience some sort of stress throughout their lifetime, are they subject to some amount of neuronal loss? Most individuals who experience acute stress do not have the same deleterious effects on the brain as those patients who face chronic stress. Bessa et al. (2009) states “anti-depressant treatment not only reversed the antiproliferative effects of CMS, but stimulated neurogenesis to levels above those found in controls.” Even though the average individual does not have the same amount of neuronal loss as the chronically stressed individual, the use of antidepressants increases neurogenesis in the controls, or the average individual. So, if ADs increase neurogenesis, wouldn’t it be beneficial for all individuals to take? Ignoring the complications this would cause in the pharmaceutical industry and the negative side effects AD use can have on an individual, which make the proposition of universal AD use impossible, it would be an interesting conversation. The hippocampus plays a major role in short term, long term, and spatial memory. So, if your average individual were to increase neurogenesis in this area, what would the possibilities be towards memory consolidation? I think that this would be a really interesting topic to research further. You could take your “average” mouse and start them on a period of anti-depressants and test their memory both before and after, seeing their areas of improvement.

Hensley, S., & Hurt, A. (2014, July 7). Stressed Out: Americans Tell Us About Stress In Their Lives. Retrieved January 22, 2017, from http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2014/07/07/327322187/stressed-out-americans-tell-us-about-stress-in-their-lives