Ovariectomy changes the response to antidepressant drugs in tail suspension test in mice

Abstract

Depressive symptoms are very frequent over a lifetime, especially for women. Menopause is a period of higher depressive vulnerability. There are suggestive data that estrogen deficiency may increase the susceptibility for depression. We studied whether a bilateral ovariectomy (OVX) modifies mice behaviors and antidepressant drug effects through tail suspension test (TST). We evaluated behavioral changes at 1 week, 2 weeks, and up to 2 months after OVX. The behavior responses to doxepin, paroxetine, and venlafaxine at 1 week, 2 weeks, and 2 months after OVX were evaluated. No obvious difference was detected on the duration of immobility among control group, sham group, and OVX group in the TST at 1 week and 2 weeks after OVX. But the duration of immobility of OVX group was distinctly longer than that of both control group and sham operation group at 2 months after OVX. At 1 and 2 weeks after OVX, only the antidepressant response to venlafaxine was observed, while response to paroxetine increased 2 months after OVX. Response to antidepressant drugs was strongly modified in OVX mice. The present results suggest that not all antidepressant drugs are appropriate for depression with estrogen deficiency.

Chinese abstract

抑郁症状在人的一生中很常见, 尤其是对女性。绝经是抑郁易感更高发的一个时期。有数据表明, 雌激素缺乏可能会增加抑郁症的易感性。我们研究的是: 双侧卵巢切除术 (OVX) 是否改变悬尾试验 (TST) 中老鼠的行为和抗抑郁药物的作用。我们在双卵巢切除术后1周、2周直至2个月评估其行为的变化。在双卵巢切除术后1周、2周直至2个月评估其对多虑平、帕罗西汀、文拉法辛的行为反应。在卵巢切除术后1周、2周, 对照组、假手术组及卵巢切除术组老鼠不动的持续时间无显著差异。但卵巢切除术后2个月, 卵巢切除术组大鼠不动的持续时间较对照组和假手术组均明显延长。在卵巢切除术后1周、2周, 只观察到文拉法新的抗抑郁反应, 而卵巢切除术后2个月, 对帕罗西汀的反应增加。在卵巢切除术组的老鼠对抗抑郁药物的反应明显改变。目前的研究结果表明, 并不是所有的抗抑郁药物都适用于雌激素缺乏所致的抑郁。

Keywords:

• Antidepressant drug
• menopause
• ovariectomy
• ovary
• tail suspension test

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by research grants from the Department of Education [grant number 1153h18] and Science and Technology [grant number LC2008C26] of Heilongjiang Province, and from the National Natural Science Foundation of China [grant number 81303248].

Declaration of interest

The authors alone are responsible for the content of this article. The authors report no conflicts of interest.