Shocking Relations

Copyright © 2014 Peter Rotheneichner et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Speculations on the involvement of hippocampal neurogenesis, a form of neuronal plasticity, in the aetiology of depression and the mode of action of antidepressive therapies, started to arisemore than a decade ago. But still, conclusive evidence that adult neuroge-nesis contributes to antidepressive effects of pharmacological and physical therapies has not been generated yet.This review revisits recent findings on the close relation between the mode(s) of action of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), a powerful intervention used as second-line treatment of major depression disorders, and the neurogenic response to ECT. Following application of electro-convulsive shocks, intricate interactions between neurogenesis, angiogenesis, andmicroglia activation, the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis and the secretion of neurotrophic factors have been documented. Furthermore, considering the fact that neurogenesis strongly diminishes along aging,we investigated the response to electroconvulsive shocks in young aswell as in aged cohorts ofmice. 1. Electroconvulsive Therapy and Major Depression Disorders Major depression is one of themost common forms ofmental disorders in humans. Hereditary and environment-triggere