The Antidepressant Fluoxetine Restores Plasticity in the Adult Visual Cortex

@article{citeulike:2685687, abstract = {We investigated whether fluoxetine, a widely prescribed medication for treatment of depression, restores neuronal plasticity in the adult visual system of the rat. We found that chronic administration of fluoxetine reinstates ocular dominance plasticity in adulthood and promotes the recovery of visual functions in adult amblyopic animals, as tested electrophysiologically and behaviorally. These effects were accompanied by reduced intracortical inhibition and increased expression of brain-derived neurotrophic factor in the visual cortex. Cortical administration of diazepam prevented the effects induced by fluoxetine, indicating that the reduction of intracortical inhibition promotes visual cortical plasticity in the adult. Our results suggest a potential clinical application for fluoxetine in amblyopia as well as new mechanisms for the therapeutic effects of antidepressants and for the pathophysiology of mood disorders. 10.1126/science.1150516}, author = {Vetencourt, Jose F. and Sale, Alessandro and Viegi, Alessandro and Baroncelli, Laura and De Pasquale, Roberto and O'Leary and Castren, Eero and Maffei, Lamberto }, citeulike-article-id = {2685687}, doi = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1150516}, journal = {Science}, keywords = {220408, depression, synaptic\_plasticity}, month = {April}, number = {5874}, pages = {385--388}, posted-at = {2008-04-21 19:15:12}, priority = {2}, title = {The Antidepressant Fluoxetine Restores Plasticity in the Adult Visual Cortex}, url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1150516}, volume = {320}, year = {2008} }

TY - JOUR ID - citeulike:2685687 L3 - citeulike-article-id:2685687 TI - The Antidepressant Fluoxetine Restores Plasticity in the Adult Visual Cortex JF - Science VL - 320 IS - 5874 SP - 385 EP - 388 N2 - We investigated whether fluoxetine, a widely prescribed medication for treatment of depression, restores neuronal plasticity in the adult visual system of the rat. We found that chronic administration of fluoxetine reinstates ocular dominance plasticity in adulthood and promotes the recovery of visual functions in adult amblyopic animals, as tested electrophysiologically and behaviorally. These effects were accompanied by reduced intracortical inhibition and increased expression of brain-derived neurotrophic factor in the visual cortex. Cortical administration of diazepam prevented the effects induced by fluoxetine, indicating that the reduction of intracortical inhibition promotes visual cortical plasticity in the adult. Our results suggest a potential clinical application for fluoxetine in amblyopia as well as new mechanisms for the therapeutic effects of antidepressants and for the pathophysiology of mood disorders. 10.1126/science.1150516 KW - 220408 KW - depression KW - synaptic_plasticity AU - Vetencourt, Jose AU - Sale, Alessandro AU - Viegi, Alessandro AU - Baroncelli, Laura AU - De Pasquale, Roberto AU - O'Leary AU - Castren, Eero AU - Maffei, Lamberto PY - 2008/04/18/ UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1150516 ER -