depression in the hippocampus
Brain Pathway May Underlie Depression
This is an interesting article on how depression effects the dentate gyrus, in the hippocampus. The hippocampus, for those who are fuzzy on what the bits of their brain do, is responsible for forming memories, for your sense of location, and for your ability to navigate through the space around you. There's evidence that it is damaged by stress, and that having a poorly functioning hippocampus is part of depression.
I'm stuck on a particular quote from the article, however, that has nothing to do with the neurobiology just mentioned.
The researchers induced depression-like symptoms in rats by blasting static noise or otherwise annoying the animals at unpredictable intervals for several weeks. The chronically stressed rats swam less vigorously in a tank of water, indicating their feelings of rodent hopelessness.
It's the feelings of rodent hopelessness that gets me.
::giggles::
Okay, it also bothers me that this is an uncertain way to determine that the rats are depressed. You want a depressed rat, look for one that isn't grooming itself, or doesn't eat or socialize, or for one that possesses any of the biochemical markers that go with depression. Maybe it's not swimming vigorously because it wants to float in a pool on a pretty day, huh? Did they think of that?
Yes, I'm being sarcastic. I used to have pet rats. I've never known one to enjoy swimming. They do so only to survive. It's not an awful way to decide the rats are depressed, but it's not as convincing as other behaviors might be, because fatigue and weakness are not definitive indicators of depression until they are combined with other symptoms.
from sciam.com, July 6, 2007
This is an interesting article on how depression effects the dentate gyrus, in the hippocampus. The hippocampus, for those who are fuzzy on what the bits of their brain do, is responsible for forming memories, for your sense of location, and for your ability to navigate through the space around you. There's evidence that it is damaged by stress, and that having a poorly functioning hippocampus is part of depression.
I'm stuck on a particular quote from the article, however, that has nothing to do with the neurobiology just mentioned.
The researchers induced depression-like symptoms in rats by blasting static noise or otherwise annoying the animals at unpredictable intervals for several weeks. The chronically stressed rats swam less vigorously in a tank of water, indicating their feelings of rodent hopelessness.
It's the feelings of rodent hopelessness that gets me.
::giggles::
Okay, it also bothers me that this is an uncertain way to determine that the rats are depressed. You want a depressed rat, look for one that isn't grooming itself, or doesn't eat or socialize, or for one that possesses any of the biochemical markers that go with depression. Maybe it's not swimming vigorously because it wants to float in a pool on a pretty day, huh? Did they think of that?
Yes, I'm being sarcastic. I used to have pet rats. I've never known one to enjoy swimming. They do so only to survive. It's not an awful way to decide the rats are depressed, but it's not as convincing as other behaviors might be, because fatigue and weakness are not definitive indicators of depression until they are combined with other symptoms.
from sciam.com, July 6, 2007