Pacemakers are little gizmos that are implanted under the skin in the chest that deliver small electrical pulses to keep your heart beating. But what if you could put one in your brain that makes you happy when you’re depressed? Or, at least, less depressed?
According to new research published in Nature Neuroscience by scientists at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, that fanciful idea might one day be a reality.
Researchers are revisiting an old idea called deep brain stimulation, or DBS, which is already used to help soften the blow of Parkinson’s disease and epilepsy. Employing the same strategies, the treatment involves implanting electrodes in specific parts of the brain that deliver a steady, high-frequency electrical pulse. Some early clinical trials show that it worked wonders for those suffering from major depressive disorder. One patient reported that her symptoms disappeared almost immediately after the device was activated, and have not returned since.
How Does a Brain Pacemaker Even Work?
That’s all well and good, but before doctors can start slapping these things in everybody’s depressed brains, researchers have to figure out the answer to one big question: how is it even doing this?
The researchers know it works, but the how of it is a mystery, one that the scientific community is actively trying to solve.
In a new study using monkeys, Mount Sinai neuroscientists found that DBS temporarily tweaks the brain’s electrical activity, but it also appears to physically remodel the brain’s white matter, the stuff filled with nerve fibers that allow the brain to communicate efficiently. We’ve long known that depression is closely associated with deteriorated white matter… and that’s about it. Scientists have never been able to figure out what happens from there.
The researchers observed an increase in myelination in mood-related brain circuits after stimulation. Myelination is the fatty protective coating around nerve fibers. They also saw some changes in connectivity across multiple brain networks, especially the default mode network, which is often hyperactive in people with depression.
It’s all technical, but in short, DBS may be rewiring the brain in the long term.
Keep in mind, a lot of these structural changes have been observed in nonhumans. That said, it’s all quite promising for people who’ve exhausted every other option for ridding themselves of depression.
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