
Representative map of the affected connections in the brain. The number of these connections increased after treatment. Credit: Jonathan Repple
Key Points:
- The adult brain may not be as rigid as scientists have long believed.
- New research shows in-patient treatment for depression can lead to an increase in brain connectivity, and is effective in tackling depression symptoms.
- The treatment showed success in as little as 6 weeks.
Scientists have long believed that the structure of the adult brain is rigid and incapable of rapid changes. Now, new work from German researchers shows this is not necessarily true.
In research presented at the European College for Neuropsychopharmacology Congress, researchers show that in-patient treatment for depression can lead to an increase in brain connectivity, and patients who respond well show a greater increase in connectivity than those who don’t.
“This means that the brain structure of patients with serious clinical depression is not as fixed as we thought, and we can improve brain structure within a short time frame, around 6 weeks,” said Eric Ruhe at Rabdoud University Medical Center in the Netherlands. “We found that if this treatment leads to an increase in brain connectivity, it is also effective in tackling depression symptoms. This gives hope to patients who believe nothing can change and they have to live with a disease forever, because it is ‘set in stone’ in their brain.”
Ruhe and team studied 109 patients with serious depression (major depressive disorder) and compared them with 55 healthy controls. The researchers scanned the participants’ brains using an MRI scanner, which was set up to identify which parts of the brain were communicating with other parts. The study participants were then treated for depression, some with electroconvulsive therapy, some with psychological therapy or medication, some with a combination of all therapies. After treatment they were then rescanned and the number of connections recounted. They were also retested for symptoms of depression.
The researchers say treatment for depression changed the infrastructure of the brain. Treated patients showed a greater number of connections than they had shown before treatment. Moreover, those who showed the most response to treatment had developed a greater the number of new connections than those who showed little response.
“We found these changes took place over a period of only around 6 weeks, we were surprised at the speed of response. We don’t have an explanation as to how these changes take place, or why they should happen with such different forms of treatment,” said lead researcher Jonathan Repple.
The next question, therefore, is whether different treatments have the possibility to specifically change targeted brain networks or vice versa.
Information provided by European College for Neuropsychopharmacology Congress.