“Requirement of Hippocampal Neurogenesis for the Behavioral Effects of Antidepressants”

LUCA SANTARELLI,; MICHAEL SAXE,; CORNELIUS GROSS; ALEXANDRE SURGET,; FORTUNATO BATTAGLIA,; STEPHANIE DULAWA,; NOELIA WEISSTAUB; JAMES LEE,; RONALD DUMAN,; OTTAVIO ARANCIO,; CATHERINE BELZUNG,; RENÉ HEN

SCIENCE

Año: 2003 p. 805 - 809

0036-8075

Various chronic antidepressant treatments increase adult hippocampal neurogenesis,but the functional importance of this phenomenon remains unclear. Here,using genetic and radiological methods, we show that disrupting antidepressantinducedneurogenesis blocks behavioral responses to antidepressants. Serotonin 1Areceptor null mice were insensitive to the neurogenic and behavioral effects offluoxetine, a serotonin selective reuptake inhibitor. X-irradiation of a restrictedregion of mouse brain containing the hippocampus prevented the neurogenic andbehavioral effects of two classes of antidepressants. These findings suggest that thebehavioral effects of chronic antidepressants may be mediated by the stimulationof neurogenesis in the hippocampus