Hesham A El-Beshbishy, Hesham M El-Refaey, Hasan S Al-Amry, Rabab A Ali, Mohammed A Hassanien and Ramadan A Saad
Objectives: To evaluate brain mitochondrial role in depression pathogenesis through mitochondrial Dynamin- Related Protein (Drp-1), Fission 1 Protein (Fis-1), Brain Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF) and Tyrosine Kinase B (Trk-B) receptor stimulation using three different antidepressants.
Methods: Sixty four healthy adult male Sprague-Dawley rats weighing 180 ± 20 gm, were used. We established an animal model of stress-induced depressive behavior named learned helplessness (LH). LH rats were treated with fluoxetine FLX (20 mg/kg), imipramine IMP (20 mg/kg) or citalopram CTL (20 mg/kg), i.p. for 2 weeks.
Key findings: Order of decreasing number of LH rats was CTL>IMP>FLX. Brain mitochondrial SDH, MDH, IDH, MAO and SOD enzymes, Total Antioxidant Status (TAS), percentage ATP production, BDNF, Drp-1, Trk-B and Fis-1 proteins of depressed (DEP) rats significantly declined. Brain lipid peroxides were highly elevated in DEP-rats. All these levels were back to normalcy after intake of antidepressants and protein expression of BDNF, Drp-1, Trk-B, and Fis-1 were enhanced. Direct positive correlations were recorded between TAS and neurotrophins proteins among DEP-rats.
Conclusion: The use of FLX, IMP, and CTL alleviated depression induced in rats via antioxidant mechanism and neurotrophins expression modulation in rat brain mitochondria.
English 
Spanish 
Chinese 
Russian 
German 
French 
Portuguese 
Hindi