Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor (VEGF) serum concentration during electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) in treatment resistant depressed patients

Neurotrophic factors in depression in response to treatment

“…In contrast to most other studies, we observed a significant decrease in VEGF levels upon antidepressant treatment (Iga et al, 2007;Ventriglia et al, 2009;Minelli et al, 2011;Halmai et al, 2013;Fornaro et al, 2013). The experimental designs of these studies were different, and consequently it is difficult to draw definitive conclusions.…”

“…Most of these were in accordance with our study and showed no correlation (Iga et al, 2007;Minelli et al, 2011;Lee and Kim, 2012;Halmai et al, 2013). One study showed a negative correlation between HRSD depression score and serum VEGF levels (Kotan et al, 2012), and another showed a positive correlation between BDI depression score and serum VEGF levels (Kahl et al, 2009).…”

“…These studies may, however, not be directly comparable to our study as two measured VEGF in plasma (Lee and Kim, 2012;Halmai et al, 2013), and one in mRNA (Iga et al, 2007). To our knowledge, only three studies, including 12, 19 and 40 individuals with depression, respectively, have previously investigated the correlation between serum VEGF and depression severity at baseline (Kahl et al, 2009;Minelli et al, 2011;Kotan et al, 2012). For comparison, 83 individuals were successfully analysed for serum VEGF levels at baseline in our study.…”

Peripheral vascular endothelial growth factor as a novel depression biomarker: A meta-analysis

“…In addition, antagonism to VEGF type 2 receptors -VEGFR2 -abolishes antidepressant-like behavioral effects in preclinical models for depression (Greene et al, 2009;WarnerSchmidt and Duman, 2007). In individuals with MDD, two studies found no increase in VEGF levels after treatment with antidepressants (Iga et al, 2007;Ventriglia et al, 2009), while a previous report evidenced increments in circulation VEGF after ECT treatment (Minelli et al, 2011). Thus, the effects of antidepressant drug treatment and non-pharmacological intervention on peripheral levels of VEGF remain inconclusive (Clark-Raymond and Halaris, 2013).…”

Developmental Disability in the Young and Postoperative Cognitive Dysfunction in the Elderly After Anesthesia and Surgery: Do Data Justify Changing Clinical Practice?

“…186,187 In addition to ischemic preconditioning, 188 granulocyte-colony stimulating factor 189 and EPO 176,190,191 appear to be such manipulators, and neurogenesis may be the mechanism of electroconvulsive therapy in patients with depression. 192,193 The old adage that neurogenesis is only for the young was shown to be wrong for rodents in 1965, is known to be wrong for nonhuman primates, and is almost certainly wrong for humans.…”