Skip to main content

Lund University Publications

LUND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

Glial cell activation in response to electroconvulsive seizures

Jansson, Linda LU ; Wennström, Malin LU ; Johanson, Aki LU and Tingström, Anders LU (2009) In Progress in Neuro-Psychopharmacology and Biological Psychiatry 33(7). p.1119-1128
Abstract
Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is a very efficient treatment for severe depression. However, cognitive side effects have raised concern to whether ECT can cause cellular damage in vulnerable brain regions. A few recent animal studies have reported limited hippocampal cell loss, while a number of other studies have failed to find any signs of cellular damage and some even report that electroconvulsive seizures (ECS; the animal counterpart of ECT) has neuroprotective effects. We previously have described gliogenesis in response to ECS. Loss of glial cells is seen in depression and de novo formation of glial cells may thus have an important therapeutic role. Glial cell proliferation and activation is however also seen in response to neuronal... (More)
Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is a very efficient treatment for severe depression. However, cognitive side effects have raised concern to whether ECT can cause cellular damage in vulnerable brain regions. A few recent animal studies have reported limited hippocampal cell loss, while a number of other studies have failed to find any signs of cellular damage and some even report that electroconvulsive seizures (ECS; the animal counterpart of ECT) has neuroprotective effects. We previously have described gliogenesis in response to ECS. Loss of glial cells is seen in depression and de novo formation of glial cells may thus have an important therapeutic role. Glial cell proliferation and activation is however also seen in response to neuronal damage. The aim of the present study was to further characterize glial cell activation in response to ECS. Two groups of rats were treated with 10 ECS using different sets of stimulus parameters. ECS-induced changes in the morphology and expression of markers typical for reactive microglia, astrocytes and NG2+ glial cells were analyzed immunohistochemically in prefrontal cortex, hippocampus, amygdala, hypothalamus, piriform cortex and entorhinal cortex. We observed changes in glial cell morphology and an enhanced expression of activation markers 2 h following ECS treatment, regardless of the stimulus parameters used. Four weeks later, few activated glial cells persisted. In conclusion, ECS treatment induced transient glial cell activation in several brain areas. Whether similar processes play a role in the therapeutic effect of clinically administered ECT or contribute to its side effects will require further investigations. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Stimulus parameters, NG2, Astrocyte, Electroconvulsive seizures, Microglia, Glial cell activation
in
Progress in Neuro-Psychopharmacology and Biological Psychiatry
volume
33
issue
7
pages
1119 - 1128
publisher
Elsevier
external identifiers
  • wos:000270285500005
  • scopus:69349086509
ISSN
0278-5846
DOI
10.1016/j.pnpbp.2009.06.007
language
English
LU publication?
yes
additional info
E-pub 2009 Jun 18.
id
0f2ae2ea-05ae-47ae-a8e7-030472664e2e (old id 1480575)
alternative location
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19540297?dopt=Abstra
date added to LUP
2016-04-04 10:44:45
date last changed
2022-01-29 20:47:43
@article{0f2ae2ea-05ae-47ae-a8e7-030472664e2e,
  abstract     = {{Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is a very efficient treatment for severe depression. However, cognitive side effects have raised concern to whether ECT can cause cellular damage in vulnerable brain regions. A few recent animal studies have reported limited hippocampal cell loss, while a number of other studies have failed to find any signs of cellular damage and some even report that electroconvulsive seizures (ECS; the animal counterpart of ECT) has neuroprotective effects. We previously have described gliogenesis in response to ECS. Loss of glial cells is seen in depression and de novo formation of glial cells may thus have an important therapeutic role. Glial cell proliferation and activation is however also seen in response to neuronal damage. The aim of the present study was to further characterize glial cell activation in response to ECS. Two groups of rats were treated with 10 ECS using different sets of stimulus parameters. ECS-induced changes in the morphology and expression of markers typical for reactive microglia, astrocytes and NG2+ glial cells were analyzed immunohistochemically in prefrontal cortex, hippocampus, amygdala, hypothalamus, piriform cortex and entorhinal cortex. We observed changes in glial cell morphology and an enhanced expression of activation markers 2 h following ECS treatment, regardless of the stimulus parameters used. Four weeks later, few activated glial cells persisted. In conclusion, ECS treatment induced transient glial cell activation in several brain areas. Whether similar processes play a role in the therapeutic effect of clinically administered ECT or contribute to its side effects will require further investigations.}},
  author       = {{Jansson, Linda and Wennström, Malin and Johanson, Aki and Tingström, Anders}},
  issn         = {{0278-5846}},
  keywords     = {{Stimulus parameters; NG2; Astrocyte; Electroconvulsive seizures; Microglia; Glial cell activation}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{06}},
  number       = {{7}},
  pages        = {{1119--1128}},
  publisher    = {{Elsevier}},
  series       = {{Progress in Neuro-Psychopharmacology and Biological Psychiatry}},
  title        = {{Glial cell activation in response to electroconvulsive seizures}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.pnpbp.2009.06.007}},
  doi          = {{10.1016/j.pnpbp.2009.06.007}},
  volume       = {{33}},
  year         = {{2009}},
}