Antidepressant helps new brain cells to grow

摘要

THE first clear evidence of how antidepressant drugs help to boost brain cell formation could lead to better treatments for depression. The hippocampus is one of just two brain regions known to grow new neurons throughout life - a process called neurogenesis. This process is disrupted in people with'depression, although it is not known whether this is a cause or symptom of the condition. It is clear, however, that one of the ways that antidepressants work is by boosting neurogenesis in the hippocampus. Christoph Anacker and his colleagues at King's College London have now worked out how they do so.