NARSAD-Supported Scientist Says Not Always
(Great Neck, NY - February 05, 2007) — For the past several years, the laboratory of Rene Hen, Ph.D., has been studying how certain antidepressant medications called serotonin reuptake inhibitors, or SSRIs, may be exerting a positive effect on the adult brain. SSRI drugs, such as Prozac, Paxil and Celexa, are widely used to treat depression
Dr. Hen, a member of NARSAD’s Scientific Council, a former NARSAD grantee, and a professor in the Center for Neurobiology & Behavior and the departments of pharmacology and psychiatry at Columbia University College of Physicians & Surgeons, is renowned for having found that SSRI drugs, in animal models, seem to improve mood by increasing neurogenesis, or the growth of new nerve cells, in a region of the adult brain called the hippocampus.
Recently, he and a colleague published a review article in the prestigious journal Science (Jan. 19, 2007) titled “Is More Neurogeneis Always Better?” which summarizes the current research about whether neurogenesis in the adult brain always has a beneficial effect. The article points out that sometimes new nerve growth in an adult brain, such as in epilepsy and in certain learning situations, may not be advantageous.
“What we once believed to be good thing—new nerve growth in the adult brain—is more complicated than we thought,” Dr. Hen told NARSAD. He and the members of his laboratory are continuing to investigate the role antidepressants have in neurogenesis in animal models and in people.
In the Science article, Dr. Hen cited the National Institute of Mental Health and NARSAD: The Mental Health Research Association for support of some of the research findings from his laboratory that were listed in the publications in the bibliography of the article.
“I should give credit to NARSAD for almost every paper we publish on depression and neurogenesis,” Dr. Hen told NARSAD. Not only has he been supported by NARSAD funding, he said, but several post doctoral fellows in his laboratory receive or have received NARSAD funding.
“When you add it up, NARSAD provides a significant amount of my research funding,” Dr. Hen said. “As a result, NARSAD has been instrumental in advancing the understanding of the role of neurogenesis in depression. NARSAD has been very generous and I will take any opportunity to thank the organization for its support.”
