Long-term changes in regional brain cytochrome oxidase activity induced by electroconvulsive treatment in rats.
Quantitative cytochrome oxidase (CO) histochemistry was used to examine brain regional metabolic effects of electroconvulsive shock-induced seizures (ECS). Rats receive a course of either eight ECS or control treatments and were sacrificed either 24 h or 28 days after the last session. Regional CO activity (mumol/gT/min) was quantitated throughout the brain using internally calibrated standards. Twenty-four hours after the last ECS session there was no significant difference between ECS- and sham-treated brains in any of the 99 brain regions examined. In contrast, 28 days after the last session, ECS brains showed significant increases in CO activity in the interpeduncular nucleus (+20%), bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (+25%), dorsomedial hypothalamus (+20%), ventromedial hypothalamus (+12%), mammillary nucleus (+14%), pontine nucleus (+16%), basolateral amygdala (+14%), medial amygdala (+12%), piriform cortex (+12%) and ventromedial thalamus (+9%). These results suggest that ECS induces localized increases in brain CO activity which are long-lasting and may develop independently of additional stimulation. The fact that CO changes were predominantly in limbic areas suggests that they may be relevant to the antidepressant effects of ECS.
Neuroimaging Research Section, Clarke Institute of Psychiatry Toronto, Ont., Canada.
J N
JN
Nobrega
R
R
Raymond
L
L
DiStefano
W M
WM
Burnham
D000818:Animals; D001921:Brain / Q000201:enzymology*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D003720:Densitometry; D003576:Electron Transport Complex IV / Q000378:metabolism*; D004597:Electroshock; D006651:Histocytochemistry; D051381:Rats
D003576:Electron Transport Complex IV