title: Specific creatine rise in learned helplessness induced by electroconvulsive shock treatment.
abstract: Metabolic changes in the hippocampus formation can be investigated with in vivo magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS). Learned helplessness (LH) is a well validated animal model of depression which we established in Sprague-Dawley rats defining some as "learned helpless" (LH) or not "learned helpless" (NLH). Helpless and non-helpless rats received a course of daily administered electroconvulsive shocks (ECS) for 6 days. MRS measurements were performed on a 4.7 T animal scanner with an average voxel size within the rat hippocampus of 10 microl. In LH rats hippocampal creatine/NAA rose significantly (14%) whereas creatine/NAA of NLH rats showed no increase at all. A possible connection between hippocampal creatine levels and major depressive disorders as a reflection of changes in energy metabolism is discussed.
authors: Central Institute of Mental Health, Mannheim, Germany. sascha@zi-mannheim.de
authors: Alexander
authors: A
authors: Sartorius
authors: Barbara
authors: B
authors: Vollmayr
authors: Claudia
authors: C
authors: Neumann-Haefelin
authors: Gabriele
authors: G
authors: Ende
authors: Mathias
authors: M
authors: Hoehn
authors: Fritz A
authors: FA
authors: Henn
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003401:Creatine / Q000378:metabolism*; D004565:Electroconvulsive Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D006380:Helplessness, Learned; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000378:metabolism*; D009682:Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy / Q000379:methods; D008297:Male; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley
chemical_list: D003401:Creatine