Original articleThe Effects of Chronic Fluoxetine Treatment on Chronic Mild Stress-Induced Cardiovascular Changes and Anhedonia
Section snippets
Animals
Twenty-four male Sprague-Dawley rats (Harlan, Indianapolis, Indiana), weighing 250–350 g, were used for the experimental procedures. Rats were allowed 1 week to acclimate before beginning experimentation. Animals were housed in individual plastic cages with bedding. Food (Purina Rat Chow 5012; Purina Mills, Brentwood, Missouri) and tap water were available ad libitum for the duration of the experiments unless otherwise noted. Sucrose solution (1%) was available ad libitum for 1 week preceding
Sucrose Preference Tests
Figure 2 presents water (Panel A) and sucrose (Panel B) intake in CMS+FL, CMS+V, CON+FL, and CON+V groups at baseline and during 4 weeks of CMS. Chronic mild stress produced a significant decline in sucrose intake, and animals in this group treated with fluoxetine showed intakes that were comparable to the control groups after 4 weeks of CMS. Neither CMS nor fluoxetine treatment affected water intake after 4 weeks of CMS. Data from water and sucrose intake were analyzed separately with
Discussion
It is not only important to understand the bidirectional association between depression and heart disease, but also to develop pharmacological treatments for depressed cardiac patients that do not impair (and more desirably, improve) cardiovascular status. Although tricyclic antidepressants have useful antidepressant properties, they lead to increased HR, reduced intraventricular cardiac conduction, and orthostatic hypotension (see Roose and Spatz 1999). The cardiotoxic side effects of these
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