Caffeine on the Cortex: A Shield Against Depression?

If there’s anything that students can universally appreciate, it’s coffee. Caffeine, the all powerful compound that fuels countless all-nighters, jolts ventures into PsycINFO, and powers us through sleep-inducing lectures. Ever prevalent in the student population also, is a debilitating condition many secretly and openly battle - depression. It’s been warming to see the growth of initiatives designed to combat this illness and openness to new insights, whether it be through a psychological, neurological, or sociological lens.

But what if caffeine is the answer?

Researchers at two Brazilian Universities sought to explore how caffeine, a drug by definition (in fact, the most used psychoactive substance in the world), affects depression. Most studies of this nature are done on mice, as it's more practical to explore drug effects on a representative model (which reflects the neurology and behaviour of human beings).

Historically, studies have pointed out the efficacy of caffeine against depression. This study in particular, wanted to explore the behavioural outputs and neurological buffers caffeine could elicit in depression-induced mice.

Depression can come with an array of behavioural outcomes ranging from decreased mood, lowered motivation and memory impairment. It was ideal then, to explore specifically how these variables would be altered through administration of caffeine to mice with depression. In order to induce depression in the rats, the researchers applied a well known technique called “olfactory bulbectomy” which incurs depression. This technique removes the olfactory bulb - a part of the brain responsible mostly for smells and related functions. It has been noted extensively in literature that olfactory (smell) deficits are a part of early depression.

Using an “Open Field Test” where mice were placed in an open box and had their activity tracked through mean speed, total distance travelled, and time stayed still. There was also a novel object recognition task, where mice were observed to discriminate between novel and old objects. Third, a modified Y-maze task was used to test the mice’s spatial memory. Lastly, a splash test was used to measure self-care and motivational behaviours, where mice were doused in sucrose and the time it took for them to clean themselves up was measured. These variables were measured pre caffeine/induced depression, 30 days after beginning caffeine intake, and 50 days after beginning caffeine intake.

So how did the mice react to the same drug we take for our 8 am classes? For one, the caffeine intake reduced hyperactivity and enhanced recognition memory, self-care and motivational behaviours in the mice with depression, as seen in their respective tasks as described above. This is all very promising, as these behaviours are all dimensions negatively affected by depression, and can be seen prominently in a student population.

Another discovery was the protective properties of caffeine against reduced functional connectivity and size abnormalities in brain areas most responsible for those behavioural dimensions. This finding reinforces the longstanding notion of caffeine as a “neuroprotective buffer”.

Can that double double give you more than just a boost of energy in the morning (or afternoon, or evening….)? With this study’s promising findings, a new avenue of further research opens itself up that is familiar, relevant and conducive to a student’s academic journey. Potentially in conjunction with other proven methods to resolve depression, caffeine may be brandished as another weapon in the arsenal.

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Source:

• Porciúncula, L. O. (2020). Caffeine prevents neurodegeneration and behavioral alterations in a mice model of agitated depression. Progress in Neuro-Psychopharmacology and Biological Psychiatry, 98, 109776.