Acute and chronic desipramine treatment effects on rewarding electrical stimulation of the lateral hypothalamus.
Two weeks of chronic desipramine HCl (DMI) (10 mg/kg, IP) treatment did not alter reward or motor/performance components of intracranial self-stimulation (ICSS) as assessed with the rate-frequency method. Acute DMI treatment produced an ICSS reward decrement relative to saline control treatment, which was similar in size on Day 1 and Day 15 of chronic testing. The failure to find a chronic DMI effect on ICSS reward suggests that ICSS in normal rats may not be a valid animal model of depression. A better paradigm may be to test the ability of antidepressants to reverse a chronic reduction in ICSS reward function that is first produced by some other method.
Hall
F S
FS
Department of Psychology, Northeastern University, Boston, MA 02215.
Stellar
J R
JR
Kelley
A E
AE
D000818:Animals; D003891:Desipramine / Q000494:pharmacology*; D004558:Electric Stimulation; D007026:Hypothalamic Area, Lateral / Q000187:drug effects*; D008297:Male; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000187:drug effects; D012201:Reward; D012653:Self Stimulation / Q000187:drug effects*; D013997:Time Factors
D003891:Desipramine