Journal Article

Escitalopram and NHT normalized stress-induced anhedonia and molecular neuroadaptations in a mouse model of depression

Burstein, Or, Doron, Ravid, Motsan, Shai, Handelsman, Assaf, Chen, Gang, Franko, Motty, Barak, Segev, Shamir, Alon, Toledano, Roni, Gale, Eyal, Simhon, Omri, Hirshler, Yafit

2017

Overview

Anhedonia is defined as a diminished ability to obtain pleasure from otherwise positive stimuli. Anxiety and mood disorders have been previously associated with dysregulation of the reward system, with anhedonia as a core element of major depressive disorder (MDD). The aim of the present study was to investigate whether stress-induced anhedonia could be prevented by treatments with escitalopram or novel herbal treatment (NHT) in an animal model of depression. Unpredictable chronic mild stress (UCMS) was administered for 4 weeks on ICR outbred mice. Following stress exposure, animals were randomly assigned to pharmacological treatment groups (i.e., saline, escitalopram or NHT). Treatments were delivered for 3 weeks. Hedonic tone was examined via ethanol and sucrose preferences. Biological indices pertinent to MDD and anhedonia were assessed: namely, hippocampal brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and striatal dopamine receptor D2 (Drd2) mRNA expression levels. The results indicate that the UCMS-induced reductions in ethanol or sucrose preferences were normalized by escitalopram or NHT. This implies a resemblance between sucrose and ethanol in their hedonic-eliciting property. On a neurobiological aspect, UCMS-induced reduction in hippocampal BDNF levels was normalized by escitalopram or NHT, while UCMS-induced reduction in striatal Drd2 mRNA levels was normalized solely by NHT. The results accentuate the association of stress and anhedonia, and pinpoint a distinct effect for NHT on striatal Drd2 expression.

• Publisher: Public Library of Science,Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subject: Addictive behaviors / Alcoholism / Animal models / Antidepressants / Anxiety / Behavior / Behavioral sciences / Biology and Life Sciences / Brain / Brain-derived neurotrophic factor / Care and treatment / Citalopram / Consumption / Depression, Mental / Dopamine / Dopamine D2 receptors / Drug therapy / Education / Ethanol / Gene expression / Hedonic response / Hippocampus / Medicine and Health Sciences / Medicine, Botanic / Medicine, Herbal / Mental depression / Mood / Neostriatum / Neurobiology / Neurosciences / Pharmacology / Physical Sciences / Psychiatry / Psychology / Reduction / Reinforcement / Research and Analysis Methods / Rodents / Social Sciences / Stress / Stresses / Substance abuse treatment / Sucrose / Sugar