ArticleNature communications2025
Electroconvulsive therapy generates a postictal wave of spreading depolarization in mice and humans.
Article in Nature communications, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 9 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
9 citing papers in PubMed.
- Multifocal Initiation of Spreading Depolarization by Generalized Tonic-Clonic Seizures.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Article
- Dual role of spreading depolarization in an epileptic focus.Epilepsia · 2026Article
- Spreading depolarization: A wave that precedes and drives cerebral ischemic cell death-Target for neuroprotection.Journal of cerebral blood flow and metabolism : official journal of the International Society of Cerebral Blood Flow and Metabolism · 2026Review
- Microbiome-Informed Precision Electroconvulsive Therapy: Oral-Gut-Immune Signatures and Seizure Biology as Candidate Predictors of Response-A Narrative Review.Biomedicines · 2026Review
- An artefact-resilient wide bandwidth bidirectional graphene neural interface.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Brain morphometry, stimulation charge, and seizure duration in electroconvulsive therapy.Molecular psychiatry · 2026Article
- Article
- The postictal systems window hypothesis of electroconvulsive therapy in major depression.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2026Article
- Rodent and human seizures demonstrate a dynamic interplay with spreading depolarizations.Neurobiology of disease · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
17 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is a fast-acting, highly effective, and safe treatment for medication-resistant depression. Historically, the clinical benefits of ECT have been attributed to generating a controlled seizure; however, the underlying neurobiology is understudied and unresolved. Using optical neuroimaging of neural activity and hemodynamics in a mouse model of ECT, we demonstrated that a second brain event follows seizure: cortical spreading depolarization (CSD). We found that ECT pulse parameters and electrode configuration directly shaped the wave dynamics of seizure and subsequent CSD. To translate these findings to human patients, we used non-invasive diffuse optical monitoring of cerebral blood flow and oxygenation during routine ECT treatments. We observed that human brains reliably generate hyperemic waves after ECT seizure which are highly consistent with CSD. These results challenge a long-held assumption that seizure is the primary outcome of ECT and point to new opportunities for optimizing ECT stimulation parameters and treatment outcomes.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.