Researchers at the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences said light stimulation of specific hippocampal neurons intensified depression-like behavior in laboratory rats. The experiments do not constitute a treatment study in people.
Researchers at the Institute of Cytology and Genetics of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences are studying how the activity of specific brain cells relates to depression-like behavior. Tatiana Kalinina, head of the institute’s Functional Neurogenomics Laboratory and chair of physiology at Novosibirsk State University, told RIA Novosti that the team is using optogenetics, a method that controls neuron activity with light.
Kalinina said the research, led by Nikolai Dygalo, began in 2014. In experiments on rats, the scientists used a fiber-optic cable to stimulate selected neurons in the hippocampus. They observed an increase in depression-like behavior and anxiety in the animals. Kalinina said specific hippocampal cells play a role in such behavior.
The Siberian team also used optogenetics to suppress selected serotonin-producing neurons in the midbrain. Kalinina said the experiments showed that different groups of cells involved in behavioral regulation could be selectively activated or suppressed. The results come from animal research and do not, by themselves, demonstrate the effectiveness of any approach for diagnosing or treating depression in people.
Optogenetics was recognized with the 2026 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, awarded to Karl Deisseroth, Peter Hegemann and Georg Nagel for discoveries that made it possible to control nerve-cell activity with light. The Novosibirsk group’s work is a separate research application of the method.