Does ECT Grow Blood Vessels in the Brain?

A model of ECT did not cause brain damage but did increase vascular supply -- at least in rats.

Some patients worry that ECT causes brain damage, but the neurotoxic effects of elevated cortisol secretion and excitatory amino-acid neurotransmission in depression pose a much greater threat. Using electroconvulsive shock (ECS), the animal model of ECT, Scandinavian investigators studied the effect of ECS on angiogenesis in the dentate gyrus of the hippocampus, the region most vulnerable to apoptosis in depression.

Twelve rats received daily ECS or sham ECS for 10 days. Compared with sham ECS, ECS increased the number of vascular endothelial cells by 30% and the length of blood vessels by 16%. Markers of neuronal apoptosis were unchanged.

To control for transient hypoxia, the researchers assigned 21 rats to no treatment; to a single ECS wit…

Reviewing Author

Steven Dubovsky, MD