ISRAEL: Israeli scientists probe deeper into human brain to battle depression.

Scientists in Israel are reaching deeper into the minds of the clinically depressed hoping to find the key to depression. Using a locally developed upgrade to Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) therapy, they can now send electronic currents induced by alternating magnetic fields up to 8 cm (3 inches) into the brain to stimulate parts that had been out of reach. Scientists in Israel are reaching deeper into the minds of the clinically depressed to try to lift their spirits. Using a locally developed upgrade to Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) therapy, they can now send electronic currents induced by alternating magnetic fields up to 8 cm (3 inches) into the brain to stimulate parts that had been out of reach. The improved technology was developed in 2002 by Israeli scientists, led by Abraham Zangen at the Weizmann Institute of Science, and described that same year in an article published in the Journal of Clinical Neurophysiology. In the article, Zangen and research colleagues said they expected to achieve "deep brain stimulation" without the need to increase the intensity of he current. Israeli doctors are now conducting a clinical trial at Shalvata Mental Health Care Centre in the central Israeli town of Hod Hasharon to test the device on patients for the first time. They hope their findings will persuade the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to approve the use of TMS to treat depression. The long-term effects of the method, which was developed in 1985 and has been used and tested world-wide, remain unknown. Directors at the Shalvata centre did not make patients available to be interviewed by Reuters. But Richard Hopkins, a 35-year-old Briton who participated in the clinical trial after reading about the TMS upgrade on the Internet, said his depression improved after the treatment. "I've suffered from depression for about 10 years now and I have been taking conventional medication, pills or medication from my doctor and they have been only partially successful. So far it is going very well, I feel better than I have felt in many years," he said. Dr. Eiran Harel is one of the doctors who has been using the new method on his patients. During the experimental TMS treatments, patients sit in a chair and wear a helmet made of wires, strapped under the chin. A doctor places a coil near the head and administers a two-second electrical pulse, which sounds like a machine gun, periodically for 15 minutes. "I was surprised to see how well it was experienced by the patients. It doesn't hurt. It is a bit of a strange feeling at first but it has been experienced very well by patients so you get used to it very quickly," he said. "So far our results are promising. We are in the middle of the trial. People are experiencing positive effects on symptoms of depression such as sleep deprivation, lack of appetite, well being, hopelessness, feeling of helplessness, mental pain, which is very typical of major depression. People sense it as a relief," he added. Scientists participating in the study believe the improved TMS therapy could also help stroke victims or control various addictions more efficiently than conventional drug and surgical treatments, and with fewer side effects. "It isn't painful. There's a bit of a strange feeling at first but (patients) get used to it very quickly," Harel said. Previously, electronic pulses generated by TMS could penetrate only 1.5 cm (0.6 inch) into the brain, scientists taking part in the testing said. Dr. Abraham Zangen is optimistic that the treatment will have other uses in future. "The ability to reach these regions and stimulate them can really open many applications like autism, Parkinson's disease, all kinds of neurological disorders including SPS and Alzheimer's even, any kind of disorder where stimulation of specific brain sites can induce long term plasticity, the brain can learn. Repeated stimulation can make long term effects. So where we have any kind of hypo activity or hyper activity then we can by repeated stimulation makes long term alterations and cure pathological states of various brain regions."

ITN Source | February 10, 2007

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