9/19

The two articles “Requirement of Hippocampal Neurogenesis for the Behavioral Effects of Antidepressants,” which I will further refer to as “the Santarelli paper,” and “The mood-improving actions of antidepressants do not depend on neurogenesis but are associated with neuronal remodeling,” which I will further refer to as “the Bessa paper,” prove to be important, yet interesting ones because depression and anxiety are two terrible conditions affecting millions of people around the world. Through their research and experiments, they are contributing to a better understanding of how depression and antidepressants work inside the brain, which can lead to the further advancement and efficacy of antidepressants.  While both papers provided numerous important experiments for science, the Bessa paper was more elaborate and conclusive than the Santarelli paper. It went through each step of their experiments, paying lots of detail to the materials, methods, and results, whereas the other paper did not. Furthermore, both papers contradict the other in how actions of antidepressants occur in relation to hippocampal neurogenesis, although both do agree that neurogenesis is essential for the manifestation of the behavioral effects of anitdepressants. The Santarelli paper believes it is more of a direct effect, whereas the Bessa paper argues they work independently and that neural circuitry is involved. I believe that they can reconcile towards the approach that neurogenesis and the effects of antidepressants are indirectly related, as the Bessa paper provides more compelling evidence that the effects of antidepressants are moreso associated with neuronal plasticity than neurogenesis.

In their discussion, the Bessa paper brings up the idea that since the hippocampus sends major projections to the amygdala, it is likely that new neurons integrate into neuronal networks implicated in emotional behavior and modulate anxiety. Perhaps their next step is to dive further into this relationship between the hippocampus and the amygdala and perform experiments on the effects of these new neurons from the antidepressant treatments.