Molecular Biomarkers of Electroconvulsive Therapy Effects and Clinical Response: Understanding the Present to Shape the Future.

ABSTRACT: Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) represents an effective intervention for treatment-resistant depression (TRD). One priority of this research field is the clarification of ECT response mechanisms and the identification of biomarkers predicting its outcomes. We propose an overview of the molecular studies on ECT, concerning its course and outcome prediction, including also animal studies on electroconvulsive seizures (ECS), an experimental analogue of ECT. Most of these investigations underlie biological systems related to major depressive disorder (MDD), such as the neurotrophic and inflammatory/immune ones, indicating effects of ECT on these processes. Studies about neurotrophins, like the brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and the vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), have show

SUBMITTER: Maffioletti E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8471796 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature