Department of Psychiatry, Radboud University Medical Center, Postbus 9101, 6500 HB Nijmegen, The Netherlands; Donders Institute for Brain Cognition and Behavior, Centre for Neuroscience, Nijmegen, The Netherlands; Faculty of Medicine and LVR Clinic for Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany.
Psychiatry Res. 2013 Dec 30;214(3):197-203. doi: 10.1016/j.pscychresns.2013.09.004. Epub 2013 Oct 3.
Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is the most potent biological therapy in depression. Animal studies suggest that ECT acts via neuroplasticity effects on limbic structures involved in the pathophysiology of depression but in vivo evidence at the human system level is scarce. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of ECT on hippocampus and amygdala volume in 15 antidepressant-free patients with treatment refractory depression (seven males, range 42-63 years). ECT treatment was successful as indexed by a significant decrease in depressive symptoms (t14=13.6; p<0.001). Analysis of normalized volumetric data before and after ECT treatment revealed a significant volume increase of both hippocampus and amygdala (minimum p<0.005) with no evidence for a change in global brain volume. Though this change in volume cannot be clearly related to treatment effects, ECT is associated with broader neurotrophic effects other than mere adult neurogenesis in the hippocampus, which has been previously suggested as a core mechanism on the basis of animal data.
电抽搐治疗（ECT）是治疗抑郁症最有效的生物疗法。动物研究表明，ECT 通过对参与抑郁症病理生理学的边缘结构的神经可塑性作用来发挥作用，但在人体系统水平上的体内证据很少。因此，本研究的目的是调查电抽搐治疗对 15 名抗抑郁药治疗无效的抑郁症患者（7 名男性，年龄 42-63 岁）的海马体和杏仁核体积的影响。ECT 治疗成功，抑郁症状明显减轻（t14=13.6；p<0.001）。ECT 治疗前后归一化容积数据的分析显示，海马体和杏仁核的体积均显著增加（最小 p<0.005），而大脑整体体积无变化。尽管这种体积变化不能明确与治疗效果相关，但 ECT 与单纯海马体中的成年神经发生以外的更广泛的神经发生效应有关，这一点以前基于动物数据提出的核心机制。
