Depression has a devastating impact on both the individual and society. Depression is usually treated with a chronic antidepressant, resulting in behavior modification. The mechanisms that cause depression are unknown and the resulting behavioral response seen with antidepressant therapy is also poorly understood. Animal models have shown that one response induced by chronic antidepressant therapy is increased neurogenesis within the dentate gyrus of the hippocampus. (Malberg, 2004). It has been hypothesized that the enhanced neurogenesis is a causative factor in antidepressant-mediated behavioral modification, but has not been well proven. Using a two-by-two experimental design and with a more effective tool than previously used in other studies to block neurogenesis, we tested the relationship between enhanced neurogenesis, i.e. the number of new neurons in the dentate gyrus, in response to chronic antidepressant treatment and the behavioral modifications that take place. Our findings suggest that blocking neurogenesis results in increased learning over control animals.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:TCU/oai:etd.tcu.edu:etd-04272010-114432 |
| Date | 27 April 2010 |
| Creators | Gettel, Shannon Leigh |
| Contributors | Micheal J Chumley, NO SEARCH ENGINE ACCESS |
| Publisher | Texas Christian University |
| Source Sets | Texas Christian University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf, application/octet-stream |
| Source | http://etd.tcu.edu/etdfiles/available/etd-04272010-114432/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to TCU or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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