Cited by 605Treatment of Major DepressionNeurogenesis and neuroplasticity mechanismsNeurotransmitter Receptor Influence on Behavior

The mood-improving actions of antidepressants do not depend on neurogenesis but are associated with neuronal remodeling

Open access
Bessa, J M, Ferreira, D, Melo, I, Marques, F, Cerqueira, J J, Palha, J A, Almeida, O F X, Sousa, N·2009·Molecular Psychiatry

Abstract

The mechanisms underlying the initiation/onset of, and the recovery from, depression are still largely unknown; views that neurogenesis in the hippocampus may be important for the pathogenesis and amelioration of depressive symptoms have gained currency over the years although the original evidence has been challenged. In this study, an unpredictable chronic mild stress protocol was used to induce a depressive-like phenotype in rats. In the last 2 weeks of stress exposure, animals were treated with the antidepressants fluoxetine, imipramine, CP 156,526 or SSR 1494515, alone or combined with methylazoxymethanol, a cytostatic agent used to arrest neurogenesis. We found that antidepressants retain their therapeutic efficacy in reducing both measured indices of depression-like behavior (learned helplessness and anhedonia), even when neurogenesis is blocked. Instead, our experiments suggest re-establishment of neuronal plasticity (dendritic remodeling and synaptic contacts) in the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex, rather than neurogenesis, as the basis for the restoration of behavioral homeostasis by antidepressants.

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1038/mp.2008.119

Cites

45 of 45 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • In rodents undergoing chronic mild stress or stress induced by corticosterone and whose neurogenesis has been ablated, some behavioral depression-like signs are ameliorated independently of neurogenesis, while some others are dependent.

    “In summary, the results of several experiments indicated very clearly that in rodents undergoing chronic mild stress or stress induced by corticosterone and whose neurogenesis has been ablated, some behavioral depression-like signs are ameliorated independently of neurogenesis, while some others are dependent (Airan et al., 2007;Bessa et al., 2009;Surget et al., 2008;David et al., 2009).”

    From Depression and adult neurogenesis: Positive effects of the antidepressant fluoxetine and of physical exercise (2018) · cites this paper as Bessa et al., 2009

    The Discussion reports that antidepressants ameliorated CMS-induced depression-like behaviors equally in rats with and without MAM treatment, supporting neurogenesis-independent improvement. It also says neurogenesis seemed essential for reducing CMS-induced anxiety in the novelty-suppressed feeding test, but distinguishes that anxiety-like outcome from the depression-like signs of anhedonia and learned helplessness. This paper studied chronic mild stress, not corticosterone-induced stress. (LLM, conf=0.87)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
  • Mounting evidence seems to indicate that neurogenesis might not be required for the therapeutic action of antidepressants.

    “Furthermore, mounting evidence seems to indicate that neurogenesis might not be required for the therapeutic action of antidepressants (Bessa et al. 2009).”
  • In rodents, chronic but not acute treatment with conventional antidepressants reverses stress-induced dendritic atrophy.

    “Chronic, but not acute, administration of conventional antidepressants also reverses stress-induced dendritic atrophy in rodents[126]”
  • Sample sizes were based on previous published studies.

    “The sample sizes were based on previous published studies.9, 20”
  • At short-term, behavioral improvements induced by antidepressants rely on hippocampal neuronal remodeling.

    “at short-term, behavioral improvements induced by ADs rely on hippocampal neuronal remodeling,9”

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

1 of the 46 references couldn’t be matched to a known paper.

Research works printed but not linked: 1

  1. [34]34. Harris KM, Jensen FE, Tsao B. Three-dimensional structure of dendritic spines and synapses in rat hippocampus (CA1) at postnatal day 15 and adult ages: implications for the maturation of synaptic physiology and long-term potentiation. J Neurosci 1992; 12: 2685-26705.

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Bessa, J. M., Ferreira, D., Melo, I., Marques, F., Cerqueira, J. J., Palha, J. A., Almeida, O. F. X., & Sousa, N.
Affiliations
  • University of Minho (PT)
  • Max Planck Society (DE)
Corresponding author
Sousa, N
Venue
Molecular Psychiatry
Published
2008-11-04
Volume
14
Issue
8
Pages
764-773
ISSN
  • 1359-4184 (ISSN-L)
  • 1476-5578
OpenAlex
W1983617759
Cited by
598
References
46
Citations by year
2026: 9 · 2025: 17 · 2024: 11 · 2023: 33 · 2022: 30 · 2021: 38 · 2020: 26 · 2019: 33 · 2018: 31 · 2017: 48 · 2016: 37 · 2015: 44 · 2014: 53 · 2013: 38 · 2012: 48
FWCI
23.81
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Molecular Psychiatry (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics (submittedVersion)
  • Portuguese National Funding Agency for Science, Research and Technology (RCAAP Project by FCT) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
  • Portuguese National Funding Agency for Science, Research and Technology (RCAAP Project by FCT) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
Funders
  • Pfizer
  • Sanofi
  • Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (PTDC/SAU-NEU/72699/2006)
  • National Cancer Institute (N02-CB-07008)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Pharmacology › Treatment of Major Depression
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Developmental Neuroscience › Neurogenesis and neuroplasticity mechanisms
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience › Neurotransmitter Receptor Influence on Behavior
Keywords
antidepressants, neurogenesis, hippocampus, neuronal remodeling, dendritic remodeling, synaptic plasticity, depression, chronic mild stress, fluoxetine, imipramine, methylazoxymethanol, anhedonia, learned helplessness, prefrontal cortex, neuroplasticity
MeSH terms
Affect, Analysis of Variance, Animals, Antidepressive Agents, Behavior, Animal, Depression, Drug Combinations, Fluoxetine, Hippocampus, Imipramine, Indoles, Male, Methylazoxymethanol Acetate, Mitosis, Neuronal Plasticity, Pyrrolidines, Stress, Psychological, Rats, Wistar, Prefrontal Cortex, Receptors, Corticotropin-Releasing Hormone, Rats, Cytostatic Agents, Neurogenesis, Antidiuretic Hormone Receptor Antagonists

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review