ScienceDaily (Nov. 9, 2007) — Recent research shows that the production of new brain cells may be crucial for antidepressants to be effective and that the medication's effectiveness is strongly influenced by age. What's more, meal frequency, type of food, and physical exercise affect the brain's ability to manufacture these new cells. For the first time in nonhuman primate models, scientists have documented the cause-and-effect relationship between antidepressant drugs and neurogenesis. The researchers found that the antidepressant drug fluoxetine improved the behavior of macaque monkeys with depression-like symptoms.They also discovered that administering the drugs to normally behaving monkeys did not influence their behavior but did alter their brains by boosting neurogenesis in the hippocampus, an area involved in memory and learning.
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