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Original Article |
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Neuropsychopharmacology (2000) 22 191-199.10.1038/sj.npp.1395424
Strain Differences in the Behavioral Effects of Antidepressant Drugs in the Rat Forced Swimming Test
Carolina López-Rubalcava Ph.D and Irwin Lucki Ph.D |
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Departments of Psychiatry and Pharmacology, The University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA USA
Correspondence: Dr Irwin Lucki, Department of Psychiatry, The University of Pennsylvania, 3600 Market Street, Room 745, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104. Tel.: 215-573-3305. Fax: 215-573-2149. E-mail: lucki@pharm.med.upenn.edu
Present address for C. L-R. Sección de Terapéutica Experimental, Departamento de Farmacología y Toxicología, CINVESTAV and División de Investigaciones en Neurociencias, Instituto Mexicano de Psiquiatra. Apartado Postal 22026, México 1400 DF, México. Fax: (5) 513 04 32. E-mail: clopez@neuroserver.imp-neuro.edu.mx
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ABSTRACT
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Wistar-Kyoto (WKY) rats provide a model of stress-induced depressive behavior, because they show enhanced vulnerability to the effects of stressors. The present study examined differences in the behavioral response to different types of antidepressant drugs between WKY and Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats in the forced swimming test (FST). WKY rats displayed significantly greater immobility than SD rats during their exposure to the FST. The noradrenergic antidepressant, desipramine, produced a dose-dependent reduction of immobility and increase of climbing behavior in the SD rats. In WKY rats, desipramine reduced immobility at a lower dose and produced increases of both swimming and climbing behavior. The serotonergic compounds, fluoxetine and 8-OH-DPAT, produced dose-dependent reductions of immobility and increases of swimming behavior in the FST in SD rats, but the response to the serotonergic drugs were blunted in WKY rats. These results indicate that genetic or constitutive differences may determine the distinct behavioral profiles for antidepressant compounds with selective pharmacological effects in different rat strains, and these effects may be related to genetic heterogeneity of antidepressant responses in depressed patients.
Keywords: Antidepressants; Strain differences; Genetics; Behavior; Forced swimming |
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