SUSTAINED DOWN-REGULATION OF CORTICAL ADRENERGIC-RECEPTOR DENSITY WITH MAINTENANCE ELECTROCONVULSIVE STIMULATION

Central beta-adrenergic receptor downregulation is a robust and revers ible neurochemical finding in animals after a course of electroconvuls ive stimulation (ECS) or antidepressant drug administration. In additi on, beta-receptors are essential components of monoamine-based models of affective disorder pathogenesis and treatment. We tested whether th e downregulation in rat cortical beta-receptor density observed after an initial series of ECS is maintained over 2 months of maintenance EC S. Our findings confirm prior reports, in the absence of maintenance E CS, that receptor density is decreased after a course of 10 daily ECS, with recovery to baseline 16 days after the last ECS. In contrast, wh en maintenance ECS was given for 2 months after an initial series of 1 0 ECS, a schedule of maintenance ECS at two per week was sufficient to sustain the receptor downregulation. The results are discussed in ter ms of the neurochemical study of ECS in animals and implications for m aintenance ECS.