Several representative drugs of the different classes of antidepressants were tested with respect to their preventative or curative effects on stress-induced anhedonia.

When rats were stressed and simultaneously treated with a tricyclic antidepressant, drug (desipramine19) or a type A monoamine oxidase (MAO) inhibitor (moclobemide20), the Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical anhedonia index did not. vary (as in nonstressed animals), whereas stressed placebo-treated rats progressively developed an anhedonic state (Figure 2). Figure 2. Preventative effects of a monoamine oxidase inhibitor (moclobemide, 20 mg/kg bid intraperitoneally) on stress-induced anhedonia. Top: Variations in self-stimulation threshold in stressed rats administered of moclobemide (blue squares) or Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical placebo (open … These substances prevent, the development of a hedonic deficit in stressed rats whereas they remain without effect in nonstressed animals. These results are in line with clinical observations. Indeed, tricyclic antidepressants and MAO inhibitors

are effective in depressed patients but do not. modify mood in nondepressed individuals. Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical These first, experiments used preventative treatments. This type of manipulation does not optimally simulate the clinical situation where patients consult a practitioner once they are already depressed and should therefore undergo a curative therapy. Thus, the predictive validity of this animal model was further tested by evaluating a curative treatment with a representative Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical of the atypical antidepressants (mianserin21). As shown in Figure 3 (upper part), the chronic mild stress procedure resulted in an increase in self-stimulation threshold in both groups of stressed rats. This anhedonia Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical progressively developed over 2 weeks to then

reach a plateau. When stressed anhedonic animals were treated with Selleckchem VX770 mianserin from day 22 to day 38 of the stress period, the increase in self-stimulation threshold was completely abolished after about 10 days of treatment. When stressed anhedonic rats were treated with placebo during the same period of time, their anhedonic state did not normalize. This experiment has proven that this animal model was able to detect until a further category of antidepressant drugs and was appropriately responding to curative treatment of the anhedonic state. Figure 3. Curative effects of an atypical antidepressant (mianserin, 5 mg/kg intraperitoneally) on stress-induced anhedonia. Top: Variations in self-stimulation threshold in stressed (day 0 to day 38) rats treated (day 22 to day 38) with mianserin (blue squares) … In summary, these pharmacological experiments have demonstrated two important, features: (i) chronic treatment.