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Some animal studies support the existence of adult hippocampal neurogenesis, including studies of rodents after receiving antidepressants and monkeys after electroconvulsive shock (e.g., J Neurosci 2007; 27:4894). But evidence also exists that antidepressant effects occur when neurogenesis is blocked (Mol Psychiatry 2009; 14:764). To learn more, researchers used fluorescent-labeling techniques to visualize progenitor and mature neurons in human and monkey hippocampi.
Human postmortem specimens came from 8 fetuses (age range, 14–38 weeks), 10 babies (age, ≤1 year), 2 children, and 17 adults (age range, 18–77 years); there were also surgical resection samples from12 adults and 10 children. Progenitor and young neurons were found in the dentate…