Acute treatment with antidepressant drugs selectively increases the expression of c-fos in the rat brain.
Rats were treated acutely, ip, with saline vehicle or an antidepressant: iprindole (15 mg/kg), nortriptyline (15 mg/kg), A75200 (10 mg/kg), fluoxetine (15 mg/kg), desipramine (10 mg/kg), bupropion (20 mg/kg) or tranylcypromine (7.5 mg/kg). Mapping the neuroanatomical distribution at 64 sites of the immediate early gene, c-fos revealed several patterns: first, increased counts of Fos-like neurons were found in all but one instance; second, drugs which had dopaminergic effects (bupropion and tranylcypromine) were more likely to potentiate c-fos reactivity than were the other drugs; third, Fos-like counts were more likely to be significantly elevated in structures bordering brain ventricles; fourth, only in the central amygdala were the Fos-like counts higher in all seven drug groups relative to the saline group. It remains to be seen whether or not this shared substrate is therapeutically significant.
Beck
C H
CH
Department of Psychology, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada.
D000679:Amygdala / Q000187:drug effects; D000818:Animals; D000928:Antidepressive Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D001921:Brain / Q000187:drug effects*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation / Q000187:drug effects; D008297:Male; D016760:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-fos / Q000235:genetics*; D051381:Rats; D017981:Receptors, Neurotransmitter / Q000187:drug effects
D000928:Antidepressive Agents; D016760:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-fos; D017981:Receptors, Neurotransmitter