MRIs on Rats Work Like Antidepressants
From Times Staff and Wire Reports
High-speed MRI scans produce effects in rats similar to those of antidepressants, confirming observations made in humans, Harvard University researchers said Thursday in the journal Biological Psychiatry.
When repeatedly stressed, rats develop helpless behavior, which may be their version of despair, the researchers said. But in the experiment, the rats that had been exposed to magnetic fields showed less helplessness.
“They behaved as if they had received an antidepressant,” said Dr. Bruce Cohen, a psychiatrist at McLean Hospital.
