Genetic or chemogenetic enhancement of adult hippocampal neurogenesis does not improve baseline mood but can promote behavioural resilience to chronic stressors¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · review r2 · q2
Currency · newest study 2022 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q2 i? Bax deletion expanding adult-born neurons produced no baseline mood improvement but promoted resilience to chronic corticosterone and chronic social defeat stress; chemogenetic stimulation alleviated depressive-like behaviour after chronic mild stress. → Katherine L. Jones 2022

Evidence¶

Katherine L. Jones 2022¶

Katherine L. Jones, Mei Zhou and Dhanisha J. Jhaveri. (2022). Dissecting the role of adult hippocampal neurogenesis towards resilience versus susceptibility to stress-related mood disorders. npj Science of Learning 7:16. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41539-022-00133-y

q2 · i? · review · r2

Narrative review of the few gain-of-function studies. The review reports neural precursor cell-selective Bax deletion expanded adult-born neurons with no baseline mood improvement, while chemogenetic stimulation of adult-born neurons alleviated depressive-like behaviour following uncontrolled chronic mild stress.

"Although no baseline improvement in mood was found, enhancing the level of neurogenesis using this approach was shown to promote behavioural resilience to chronic corticosterone administration46 and chronic social defeat stress88."

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• Whether adult-born hippocampal neurons buffer or exacerbate the behavioural and endocrine effects of chronic stress remains unresolved, with conflicting ablation findings — related
• Ablating adult hippocampal neurogenesis in naive non-stressed rodents has equivocal effects on baseline anxiety- and depression-like behaviour, specific to ablation model and behavioural test — related
• Ablation of adult hippocampal neurogenesis blocks the anxiolytic effects of some antidepressants, indicating adult-born neurons are required for some antidepressant efficacy — related
• Chronic stress generally decreases adult hippocampal neurogenesis, but some studies report no effect or increases, with effects moderated by stressor, species, sex and strain — related
• Chronic, but not acute, administration of clinical antidepressants enhances adult hippocampal neurogenesis across multiple stages of the neurogenic process
• Female students consistently reported higher distress while male students reported higher resilience, a pattern observed across multiple countries — related