Skip to Content

Drugs for Brain Growth

September 1, 2006

Scientists already know that some drugs boost the growth of new neurons in the brain. Anti­depressants, for example, trigger the birth of brain cells in an area involved in learning and memory, which might play a role in the drugs’ ability to fight depression. Now, companies are seeking compounds that are better at enhancing the brain’s ability to grow new cells. This could improve treatments for diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, as well as depression.

New neurons (yellow) are born in a rat. (Courtesy of Brain Cells, Inc.)

Keep Reading

Most Popular

The inside story of how ChatGPT was built from the people who made it

Exclusive conversations that take us behind the scenes of a cultural phenomenon.

Sam Altman invested $180 million into a company trying to delay death

Can anti-aging breakthroughs add 10 healthy years to the human life span? The CEO of OpenAI is paying to find out.

ChatGPT is about to revolutionize the economy. We need to decide what that looks like.

New large language models will transform many jobs. Whether they will lead to widespread prosperity or not is up to us.

GPT-4 is bigger and better than ChatGPT—but OpenAI won’t say why

We got a first look at the much-anticipated big new language model from OpenAI. But this time how it works is even more deeply under wraps.

Stay connected

Illustration by Rose Wong

Get the latest updates from
MIT Technology Review

Discover special offers, top stories, upcoming events, and more.

Thank you for submitting your email!

Explore more newsletters

It looks like something went wrong.

We’re having trouble saving your preferences. Try refreshing this page and updating them one more time. If you continue to get this message, reach out to us at customer-service@technologyreview.com with a list of newsletters you’d like to receive.