The fMRI data showed that in most depressed patients the flow of activity was reversed; the anterior cingulate cortex sent signals to the anterior insula, a pattern that in healthy controls is reversed. And NO animals had to be tortured.
Scientists have conducted countless experiments on animals to study
human depression with meager results. In this all-human study at
Stanford University, scientists worked with transcranial magnetic
stimulation, or powerful magnetic pulses applied to the scalp. These
can help alleviate severe depression in people but until now it was
unknown how this worked.
Scientists recruited 33 patients diagnosed with treatment-resistant
major depressive order, some of which received Stanford
neuromodulation therapy (SNT), which uses advanced imaging
technologies to direct magnetic pulses to the brain. Others served
as controls.
The fMRI data showed that in most depressed patients the flow of
activity was reversed; the anterior cingulate cortex sent signals to
the anterior insula, a pattern that in healthy controls is reversed.
The SNT treatment reversed the flow of signals within one week,
which coincided with alleviation in depression. According to Nolan
Miller, MD, one of the study leaders “The fMRI data that allows
precision treatment with SNT can be used both as a biomarker for
depression and a method of personalized targeting to treat its
underlying cause.”