Assessment of antidepressant and anxiolytic properties of NK1 antagonists and Substance P in Wistar Kyoto rats

Abstract In an attempt to explore the involvement of substance P in depression and anxiety and its' potential therapeutic effects, we measured basal plasma and hypothalamic levels of substance P in a well-studied animal model of depression — adult male Wistar Kyoto (WKY) rats and their controls...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Physiology & behavior 2007-03, Vol.90 (4), p.619-625
Main Authors: Malkesman, O, Braw, Y, Weller, A
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult and adolescent clinical studies
Analysis of Variance
Animals
Antidepressive Agents - therapeutic use
Anxiety
Behavior, Animal - drug effects
Behavioral psychophysiology
Biological and medical sciences
Depression
Depression - drug therapy
Disease Models, Animal
Exploratory Behavior - drug effects
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Hypothalamus - drug effects
Hypothalamus - metabolism
Male
Medical sciences
Mood disorders
Neuropharmacology
Open field
Pharmacology. Drug treatments
Psychiatry
Psychoanaleptics: cns stimulant, antidepressant agent, nootropic agent, mood stabilizer..., (alzheimer disease)
Psycholeptics: tranquillizer, neuroleptic
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychophysiology
Psychopathology. Psychiatry
Psychopharmacology
Rat
Rats
Rats, Inbred WKY
Rats, Wistar
Substance P
Substance P - analogs & derivatives
Substance P - blood
Substance P - therapeutic use
Swim test
Swimming
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Abstract In an attempt to explore the involvement of substance P in depression and anxiety and its' potential therapeutic effects, we measured basal plasma and hypothalamic levels of substance P in a well-studied animal model of depression — adult male Wistar Kyoto (WKY) rats and their controls, Wistar rats. We also studied the influence of a substance P receptor (NK1) antagonist (SPA) on “anxiety-like” and “depressive-like” behaviors exhibited by the WKY rats in the open field and swim test paradigms, compared to controls. WKY rats exhibited lower levels of substance P compared to controls in the hypothalamus. Though the WKY strain exhibited less rearing behavior in the open field compared to controls, SPA did not influence this pattern of behavior. In contrast, SPA had a significant effect on a depressive-like behavior exhibited by the WKY strain — it reduced significantly the immobility duration of WKY rats in the swim test. Thus it seems that depression involves alterations in levels of substance P, and that NK1 antagonists may be effective in the relief of depressive, but not anxiety symptoms.
ISSN:0031-9384
1873-507X
DOI:10.1016/j.physbeh.2006.11.014