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| From American Scientist, full text free
at: http://www.sigmaxi.org/amsci/articles/00articles/Jacobs.html
Depression and the Birth and Death of Brain Cells The turnover
of neurons in the hippocampus might help to explain the onset
of and recovery from clinical depression Keywords: Clinical depression
mechanisms, hippocampus, dentate gyrus, serotonin, neurogenesis,
biological models, environmental models, exercise, glucocorticoids,
fluoxetine, serotonin receptor, 5-hydroxytryptamine, primate,
rat Barry L. Jacobs Abstract: Only a decade ago, most neuroscientists
thought that neurogenesis (the production of new nerve cells)
in human beings ended with adulthood. Now, however, it is clear
that neurogenesis continues throughout life and may play an important
role in adult brain function--including, as the authors propose,
in the etiology of depression. Citing evidence that stress reduces
neurogenesis and that the most effective antidepressive medications
increase it, the authors suggest that the waning and waxing of
neurogenesis in the hippocampus might trigger the precipitation
of and recovery from episodes of clinical depression. |
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