Open AccessDifferent behavioral effects of maprotiline and fluxilan in rats
Author(s) -
Nataša Spasojević,
Ljubica Gavrilović,
Sladjana Dronjak
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
archives of biological sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.217
H-Index - 25
eISSN - 1821-4339
pISSN - 0354-4664
DOI - 10.2298/abs0801033s
Subject(s) - maprotiline , serotonergic , pharmacology , antidepressant , reuptake , reuptake inhibitor , serotonin reuptake inhibitor , anxiogenic , behavioural despair test , serotonin , nomifensine , elevated plus maze , medicine , endocrinology , chemistry , anxiety , anxiolytic , dopamine , psychiatry , receptor , dopaminergic
Serotonin and noradrenaline are involved in the mechanisms of action of most antidepressant drugs. We examined the effects of chronic treatment with maprotiline, a selective inhibitor of noradrenaline reuptake, and fluxilan, a selective inhibitor of serotonin reuptake, on the behavior of unstressed controls and chronic unpredictable mild stress (CUMS) model rats in the forced swim test (FST) and elevated plus maze test. Both selective reuptake inhibitors resulted in a significant reduction of time spent in immobility. Climbing was significantly increased in maprotiline- and swimming was exclusively elicited in the fluxilan-treated unstressed control and CUMS rats. Maprotiline-treated animals displayed decreased anxiety and fluxilan-treated rats enhanced anxiety. The obtained results suggest that central noradrenergic and serotonergic systems might be affected differently during FST. The results also demonstrate that the anxiogenic effects of chronic fluxilan treatment are similar to those reported by many other studies. These differences observed for the effects of fluxilan in relation to those reported for maprotiline and probably due to the different pharmacological profiles of these drugs