Modulation of the suppressive effect of corticosterone on adult rat hippocampal cell proliferation by paroxetine.
OBJECTIVE
The literature has shown that cognitive and emotional changes may occur after chronic treatment with glucocorticoids. This might be caused by the suppressive effect of glucocorticoids on hippocampal neurogenesis and cell proliferation. Paroxetine, a selective serotonin reuptake transporter, is a commonly used antidepressant for alleviation of signs and symptoms of clinical depression. It was discovered to promote hippocampal neurogenesis in the past few years and we wanted to investigate its interaction with glucocorticoid in this study.


METHODS
Adult rats were given vehicle, corticosterone, paroxetine, or both corticosterone and paroxetine for 14 d. Cell proliferation in the dentate gyrus was quantified using 5-bromo-2-deoxyuridine (BrdU) immunohistochemistry.


RESULTS
The corticosterone treatment suppressed while paroxetine treatment increased hippocampal cell proliferation. More importantly, paroxetine treatment could reverse the suppressive effect of corticosterone on hippocampal cell proliferation.


CONCLUSIONS
This may have clinic application in preventing hippocampal damage after glucocorticoid treatment.
Qiu
Guang
G
Department of Anatomy, Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, HKSAR, China.
Helmeste
Daiga M
DM
Samaranayake
Asanka N
AN
Lau
Wui-Man
WM
Lee
Tatia M C
TM
Tang
Siu-Wa
SW
So
Kwok-Fai
KF
D000704:Analysis of Variance; D000818:Animals; D001973:Bromodeoxyuridine / Q000378:metabolism; D002452:Cell Count; D049109:Cell Proliferation / Q000187:drug effects*; D003345:Corticosterone / Q000494:pharmacology*; D004347:Drug Interactions; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000166:cytology*; D008297:Male; D009433:Neural Inhibition / Q000187:drug effects; D009474:Neurons / Q000187:drug effects*; D017374:Paroxetine / Q000494:pharmacology*; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D017367:Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors / Q000494:pharmacology*
D001973:Bromodeoxyuridine; D003345:Corticosterone; D017374:Paroxetine; D017367:Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors