Adult brain neurogenesis and psychiatry:
a novel theory of depression
by
Jacobs BL, Praag H, Gage FH
Program in Neuroscience,
Princeton University,
Princeton,
NJ 08544-1010, USA.
Mol Psychiatry 2000 May; 5(3):262-269

ABSTRACT

Neurogenesis (the birth of new neurons) continues postnatally and into adulthood in the brains of many animal species, including humans. This is particularly prominent in the dentate gyrus of the hippocampal formation. One of the factors that potently suppresses adult neurogenesis is stress, probably due to increased glucocorticoid release. Complementing this, we have recently found that increasing brain levels of serotonin enhance the basal rate of dentate gyrus neurogenesis. These and other data have led us to propose the following theory regarding clinical depression. Stress-induced decreases in dentate gyrus neurogenesis are an important causal factor in precipitating episodes of depression. Reciprocally, therapeutic interventions for depression that increase serotonergic neurotransmission act at least in part by augmenting dentate gyrus neurogenesis and thereby promoting recovery from depression. Thus, we hypothesize that the waning and waxing of neurogenesis in the hippocampal formation are important causal factors, respectively, in the precipitation of, and recovery from, episodes of clinical depression.

Adult neurogenesis
Atypical depression
Retarded depression
Genes and mental illness
BDNF and new brain cells
Basic fibroblast growth factor
Depression and nerve cell death
Antidepressants and neuroplasticity
Antidepressants and new brain cells
Sleep deprivation triggers new brain cells
A new theory of depression and antidepressants
A neurotrophic model for stress-related mood disorders

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