title: Images in electroconvulsive therapy: electroconvulsive shocks dose-dependently increase dendritic arborization in the CA1 region of the rat hippocampus.
abstract: Stress and depression are associated with impaired neuroplasticity in the hippocampus: there is decreased dendritic arborization and synaptogenesis, which is hypothesized to explain decreased adaptive competence of the organism. Representative light microscopy images are presented that show that 6 once-daily electroconvulsive shocks (ECSs) dose-dependently increased dendritic arborization in the CA1 region of the hippocampus in healthy, adult, male Wistar rats (n = 10 in each of sham, 10-mC, and 40-mC ECS groups). These neuroplasticity changes, identified 1 month after the last ECS, may explain a part of the mechanism of action of electroconvulsive therapy in conditions such as depression.
authors.affiliation: From the *Department of Anatomy, St John's Medical College; and Departments of †Neurophysiology and ‡Psychopharmacology, National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences, Bangalore, India.
authors.forename: Jangama S M
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Smitha
authors.forename: Ravindranath
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Roopa
authors.forename: Nagarchi
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Khaleel
authors.forename: Bindu M
authors.initials: BM
authors.lastname: Kutty
authors.forename: Chittaranjan
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Andrade
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003712:Dendrites / Q000502:physiology / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D004565:Electroconvulsive Therapy; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000502:physiology / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D008297:Male; D009473:Neuronal Plasticity / Q000502:physiology; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar