Chronic SSRI Treatment, but Not Norepinephrine Reuptake Inhibitor Treatment, Increases Neurogenesis in Juvenile Rats.

There has been growing recognition that major depressive disorder is a serious medical disorder that also affects children. This has been accompanied by an increased use of antidepressant drugs in adolescents; however, not all classes of antidepressants are effective in children and adolescents. There is an increasing need to understand the differences in antidepressant action in different developmental stages.

Corticosterone Induces Depressive-Like Behavior in Female Peri-Pubescent Rats, but Not in Pre-Pubescent Rats.

Background: There are no data on the effect of exogenous corticosterone on depressive-like behavior in juvenile rats. Furthermore, it has not been tested whether the effects of corticosterone in female rats is different before or after puberty.

Objective: We tested the effect of corticosterone treatment on female pre- and peri-pubescent juvenile rats on depressive-like behavior.

Intracerebroventricular Ghrelin Administration Increases Depressive-Like Behavior in Male Juvenile Rats.

Major depressive disorder (MDD) is arguably the largest contributor to the global disease and disability burden, but very few treatment options exist for juvenile MDD patients. Ghrelin is the principal hunger-stimulating peptide, and it has also been shown to reduce depressive-like symptoms in adult rodents. We examined the effects of intracerebroventricular (icv) injection of ghrelin on depressive-like behavior.

The protein tyrosine phosphatase, Shp2, is required for the complete activation of the RAS/MAPK pathway by brain-derived neurotrophic factor.

Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and other neurotrophins induce a unique prolonged activation of mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) compared with growth factors. Characterization and kinetic and spatial modeling of the signaling pathways underlying this prolonged MAPK activation by BDNF will be important in understanding the physiological role of BDNF in many complex systems in the nervous system. In addition to Shc, fibroblast growth factor receptor substrate 2 (FRS2) is required for the BDNF-induced activation of MAPK.