Monai Hiromu, Hirase Hajime
RIKEN Brain Science Institute, 2-1, Hirosawa, Wako, Saitama 351-0198, Japan.
RIKEN Brain Science Institute, 2-1, Hirosawa, Wako, Saitama 351-0198, Japan; Brain and Body System Science Institute, Saitama University, 255 Shimo-okubo, Sakura-ku, Saitama 338-8570, Japan.
Neurosci Res. 2018 Jan;126:15-21. doi: 10.1016/j.neures.2017.08.012. Epub 2017 Oct 25.
Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) has been reported to be effective in treating mood disorders such as major depressive disorder, however, its detailed mechanism of action is not fully understood. Human and animal experiments have demonstrated that tDCS promotes brain plasticity and have suggested that this consequence may underlie its therapeutic benefits. Nonetheless, the specific neurobiological underpinnings of tDCS-induced brain plasticity have only recently begun to be investigated. While brain plasticity occurs in synapses formed by neurons, astrocytes, a major glial cell type, have recently been shown to support synaptic plasticity via intracellular Ca signaling. In this perspective article, we discuss our recent results demonstrating that tDCS induces the activation of astrocytic calcium signaling that constitutes a required component for treating chronic restraint stress-induced depressive mice. We put forward the notion that activation of astrocytic Ca signaling could be used clinically as a potent remedy for depression.
经颅直流电刺激（tDCS）已被报道对治疗诸如重度抑郁症等情绪障碍有效，然而，其详细的作用机制尚未完全明确。人体和动物实验表明，tDCS可促进大脑可塑性，并提示这种结果可能是其治疗益处的基础。尽管如此，tDCS诱导大脑可塑性的具体神经生物学基础直到最近才开始被研究。虽然大脑可塑性发生在由神经元形成的突触中，但星形胶质细胞（一种主要的神经胶质细胞类型）最近已被证明可通过细胞内钙信号支持突触可塑性。在这篇观点文章中，我们讨论了我们最近的研究结果，即tDCS可诱导星形胶质细胞钙信号的激活，而这是治疗慢性束缚应激诱导的抑郁小鼠所必需的组成部分。我们提出这样的观点，即星形胶质细胞钙信号的激活在临床上可作为治疗抑郁症的有效疗法。
