Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-dlnhk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-24T11:36:56.556Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The Effects of Tianeptine and other Antidepressants on a Rat Model of Depression

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 August 2018

G. Curzon
Affiliation:
Department of Neurochemistry, Institute of Neurology, Queen Square, London WC1N 3BG
G. A. Kennett
Affiliation:
Department of Neurochemistry, Institute of Neurology, Queen Square, London WC1N 3BG
G. S. Sarna
Affiliation:
Department of Neurochemistry, Institute of Neurology, Queen Square, London WC1N 3BG
P. S. Whitton
Affiliation:
Department of Neurochemistry, Institute of Neurology, Queen Square, London WC1N 3BG

Extract

A model of depression based on measurements made after restraining rats for two hours has been developed. The model is associated with elevation in corticosterone, reflects the higher incidence of depression in women, and shows increased post-synaptic 5-HT function with adaptation. The effects of tianeptine and other antidepressants on the model were studied. Chronic pre-treatment with desipramine, sertraline (amine uptake inhibitors), and chlordiazepoxide normalised open field activity after restraint. Single high doses, post-restraint, of 8-OH-DPAT, gepirone (5-HT agonists), and tianeptine normalised open field activity, whereas desipramine, chlordiazepoxide, and diazepam did not. It is of considerable interest that tianeptine decreased the availability of 5-HT to receptors.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Royal College of Psychiatrists 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Adell, A., Sarna, G. S., Hutson, P. H., et al (1989) An in vivo dialysis and behavioural study of the release of 5-HT by p-chlorophenylalanine in reserpine-treated rats. British Journal of Pharmacology, 97, 206212.Google Scholar
Beer, M., Kennett, G. A. & Curzon, G. (1990) A single dose of 8-OH-DPAT reduces raphe binding of [3H] 8-OH-DPAT and increases the effect of raphe stimulation on 5-HT metabolism. European Journal of Pharmacology, 178, 179188.Google Scholar
Bianchi, G., Caccia, S., Della Vedova, F., et al (1988) The 2-adrenoreceptor antagonist activity of ipsapirone, and gepirone is mediated by their common metabolite 1-(2 pyrimidinyl)-piperazine (PmP). European Journal of Pharmacology, 151, 365371.Google Scholar
Blier, P., De Montigny, L. & Chaput, Y. (1987) Modifications of the serotonin system by antidepressant treatments: implications for the therapeutic response in major depression. Journal of Clinical Psychopharmacology, 7, 24S35S.Google Scholar
Blier, P., & De Montigny, L. (1988) Electrophysiological assessment of the effects of antidepressant treatments on the efficiency of 5-HT neurotransmission. Clinical Neuropharmacology, 11 (suppl. 2), S1–S10.Google Scholar
Bodnoff, S. R., Suranyi-Cadotte, B., Aitken, R., et al (1988) The effect of chronic antidepressant treatment in an animal model of anxiety. Psychopharmacology, 95, 298302.Google Scholar
Brambilla, F., Cavagnini, F., Invitti, C., et al (1985) Neuroendocrine and psychopathological measures in anorexia nervosa: resemblances to primary affective disorders. Psychiatry Research, 16, 165176.Google Scholar
Brown, G. W., Bifulco, A. & Harris, T. O. (1987) Life event vulnerability and onset of depression: some refinements. British Journal of Psychiatry, 150, 3042.Google Scholar
Carli, M., Prontera, C. & Samanin, R. (1989) Effect of 5-HT1A agonists on stress induced deficit in open field locomotor activity of rats: evidence that this model identifies anxiolytic-like activity. Neuropharmacology, 28, 471476.Google Scholar
Carroll, B. J. (1985) Dexamethasone suppression test: a review of contemporary confusion. Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 46, 1324.Google Scholar
Coryell, W. & Zimmerman, M. (1987) HPA-axis abnormalities in psychiatrically well controls. Psychiatry Research, 20, 265273.Google Scholar
Cott, J. M., Kurtz, N. M., Robinson, D. S., et al (1988) A 5-HT1A ligand with both antidepressant and anxiolytic properties. Psychopharmacology Bulletin, 24, 164167.Google ScholarPubMed
Defrance, R., Marey, C. & Kamoun, A. (1988) Antidepressant and anxiolytic activities of tianeptine: an overview of clinical trials. Clinical Neuropharmacology, 11 (suppl. 2), S74–S82.Google Scholar
Delgado, P. L., Charney, D. S., Price, L. H., et al (1990) Serotonin function and the mechanism of antidepressant action: reversal of antidepressant-induced remission by rapid depletion of plasma tryptophan. Archives of General Psychiatry, 47, 411418.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dickinson, S. L., Kennett, G. A. & Curzon, G. (1985) Reduced 5-hydroxytryptamine-dependent behaviour in rats following chronic corticosterone treatment. Brain Research, 345, 1018.Google Scholar
Donohoe, T. P., Kennett, G. A. & Curzon, G. (1987) Immobilisation stress-induced anorexia is not due to gastric ulceration. Life Sciences, 40, 467472.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dourish, C. T., Hutson, P. H. & Curzon, G. (1985) Low doses of the putative serotonin agonist 8-hydroxy-2-(di-n-propylamino) tetralin (8-OH-DPAT) elicit feeding in the rat. Psychopharmacology, 86, 197204.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
File, S. E. (1982) The rat corticosterone response: habituation and modification by chlordiazepoxide. Physiology and Behavior, 29, 9195.Google Scholar
Guelfi, J. D., Pichot, P. & Dreyfus, J. F. (1989) Efficacy of tianeptine in anxious-depressed patients: results of a controlled multicenter trial versus amitriptyline. Neuropsychobiology, 22, 4148.Google Scholar
Haleem, D. J., Kennett, G. A. & Curzon, G. (1988) Adaptation of female rats to stress: shift to male pattern by inhibition of corticosterone synthesis. Brain Research, 458, 339347.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Heninger, G. R., Charney, D. S. & Sternberg, D. E. (1984) Serotonergic function in depression: prolactin response to intravenous tryptophan in depressed patients and healthy subjects. Archives of General Psychiatry, 41, 398402.Google Scholar
Hiller, W., Zaudig, M. & Bose, M. (1989) The overlap between depression and anxiety on different levels of psychopathology. Journal of Affective Disorder, 16, 223231.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hutson, P. H., Dourish, C. T. & Curzon, G. (1986) Neurochemical and behavioural evidence of mediation of the hyperphagic action of 8-OH-DPAT by 5-HT cell body autoreceptors. European Journal of Pharmacology, 129, 347352.Google Scholar
Kant, G. J., Lenos, R. H., Bunnell, B. N., et al (1983) Comparison of stress responses in male and female rats: pituitary cyclic AMP and plasma prolactin, growth hormone and corticosterone. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 8, 421428.Google Scholar
Kato, G. C. & Weitsch, A. F. (1988) Neurochemical profile of tianeptine, a new antidepressant drug. Clinical Neuropharmacology, 11 (suppl. 2), S43–S50.Google ScholarPubMed
Kennett, G. A., Dickinson, S. L. & Curzon, G. (1985a) Central serotonergic responses and behavioural adaptation to repeated immobilisation; the effect of the corticosterone synthesis inhibitor metyrapone. European Journal of Pharmacology, 119, 143152.Google Scholar
Kennett, G. A., Dickinson, S. L. & Curzon, G. (19856) Enhancement of some 5-HT-dependent behavioural responses following repeated immobilization in rats. Brain Research, 330, 253263.Google Scholar
Kennett, G. A., Chaouloff, F., Marcou, M., et al (1986) Female rats are more vulnerable than males in an animal model of depression: the possible role of serotonin. Brain Research, 382, 416421.Google Scholar
Kennett, G. A., Dourish, C. T. & Curzon, G. (1987a) Antidepressant-like action of 5-HT agonists and conventional antidepressants in an animal model of depression. European Journal of Pharmacology, 134, 265274.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kennett, G. A., Marcou, M., Dourish, C. T., et al (1987b) Single administration of 5-HT agonists decreased 5-HT presynaptic but not postsynaptic receptor-mediated responses: relationship to antidepressant-like action. European Journal of Pharmacology, 138, 5360.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mennini, T., Mocaër, E. & Garratini, S. (1987) Tianeptine, a selective enhancer of serotonin uptake in rat brain. Naunyn-Schmiedeberg's Archives of Pharmacology, 336, 478482.Google Scholar
Mocaër, E., Rettori, M. C. & Kamoun, A. (1988) Pharmacological antidepressive effects and tianeptine-induced 5-HT uptake increase. Clinical Neuropharmacology, 11 (suppl. 2), S32–S42.Google Scholar
Schweitzer, E. E., Amsterdam, J. D., Rickels, K., et al (1986) Open trial of buspirone in the treatment of major depressive disorder. Psychopharmacology Bulletin, 22, 183186.Google Scholar
Sedvall, G., Fyro, B., Gallberg, B., et al (1980) Relationships in healthy volunteers between concentrations of monoamine metabolites in cerebrospinal fluid and family history of psychiatric morbidity. British Journal of Psychiatry, 136, 365374.Google Scholar
Shopsin, B., Friedman, E. & Gershon, S. (1976) Parachlorophenylalanine reversal of tranylcypromine effects in depressed patients. Archives of General Psychiatry, 33, 811819.Google Scholar
Tricklebank, M. D., Forler, C. & Fozard, J. R. (1985) Subtypes of the 5-HT receptor mediating the behavioural response to 5-methoxy-N, N-dimethyltryptamine in the rat. European Journal of Pharmacology, 117, 1524.Google Scholar
Van Praag, H. M. (1982) Neurotransmitters and CNS disease: depression. Lancet, ii, 12591264.Google Scholar
Weissman, M. M. & Klerman, G. L. (1977) Sex differences in the epidemiology of depression. Archives of General Psychiatry, 34, 98111.Google Scholar
Whitton, P. S., Sarna, G. S., O'Connell, M. T., et al (1991) The effect of the novel antidepressant tianeptine on 5-hydroxytryptamine concentration in rat hippocampal dialysates in vivo. Neuropharmacology (in press).Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.