Description
The dentate gyrus (DG) of the hippocampus is one of major targets for antidepressant treatments. Our recent research has revealed that selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) treatment causes a long-lasting change in the phenotypes of mature dentate granule neurons to immature state in adult mouse DG. However, it is unknown whether this dematuration of DG is a common effect of antidepressant treatments and what mechanisms underlie it. Using electroconvulsive stimulation (ECS), a model of highly effective and fast-acting antidepressant therapy, here we show that neural stimulation via ECS induces rapid and lasting dematuration of granule neurons in DG. A single or few times of stimulation transiently reduced mature marker expression and mature synaptic functions. Repetitive stimulation converted this transient dematuration into a stable form lasting more than 1 month. Dematured granule neurons showed higher excitability, and an increase in GABA-mediated inhibition by the benzodiazepine diazepam prevented the lasting maintenance phase of dematuration without affecting the initial induction phase. Our study suggests that dematuration of DG is a common cellular mechanism underlying effects of different types of antidepressant treatments, and demonstrate a novel role for excitation/inhibition balance in bidirectional regulation of the state of neuronal maturation in the adult brain.