Columbia study finds first evidence that depression stalls the brain's production of new neurons
A Columbia University study published in Nature Medicine found the first evidence that neurogenesis, the process of forming new brain cells, stalls in adults with major depressive disorder. Researchers examined nearly half a million hippocampal brain cells and found molecular changes reaching well beyond missing neurons.
Columbia University researchers, led by psychiatry professor Maura Dupont, published a study in Nature Medicine on August 21, 2026 showing the first evidence that neurogenesis stalls in the brains of adults with major depressive disorder. The team examined nearly half a million brain cells from the hippocampus of depressed and non-depressed donors, collected shortly after death, and found genetic, epigenetic and inflammatory changes across the memory circuit responsible for pattern separation. The findings suggest depression may not be a single disease, and researchers hope to eventually classify it by molecular subtype. The lead researcher cautions the exact mechanism behind pattern separation in humans is still not fully confirmed.