Neurogenic monkey brains

Last week the Journal of Neuroscience published linkurl:findings;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=pubmed&cmd=Retrieve&dopt=AbstractPlus&list_uids=17475797&query_hl=9&itool=pubmed_docsum suggesting antidepressant treatment stimulates neurogenesis in primates, something researchers had spotted in rodents and tree shrews previously. These results, which report neurogenesis in monkeys undergoing electroconvulsive shock (ECS), come close to confirming a hunch by linkurl:Brain Cells Inc,;http://www.braincellsinc.com/index.html a company I linkurl:profiled;http://www.the-scientist.com/2007/4/1/40/1 in the April issue of The Scientist. Brain Cells is currently banking millions on the idea that human antidepressant treatments work via neurogenesis. Indeed, two of the paper's co-authors are founders of Brain Cells Inc. The company's approach to finding new antidepressants is to screen drugs for neurogenic properties, and it is in the process of raising funds to take one such drug to clinical trials. But it's still preliminary. Monkey data don't always apply to humans, and it remains to be seen whether the ECS-induced neurogenesis in primates can also be induced by drugs. The other fundamental question is...