The involvement of monoaminergic neurotransmission in the antidepressant-like action of scopolamine in the tail suspension test

Publication date: 3 October 2017 Source:Progress in Neuro-Psychopharmacology and Biological Psychiatry, Volume 79, Part B Author(s): Agnieszka Pałucha-Poniewiera, Karolina Podkowa, Tomasz Lenda, Andrzej Pilc Some clinical studies indicate that scopolamine may induce a rapid antidepressant effect. Although scopolamine is a muscarinic antagonist, it seems that not only cholinergic but also glutamatergic and GABAergic systems might be involved in the mechanism of its antidepressant activity in animal models of depression. Here, we present a set of behavioral data aimed at investigating the role of monoaminergic system activity in the mechanism of the antidepressant-like action of scopolamine in an animal model based on behavioral despair, namely, the tail suspension test (TST). It was found that AMPT induced a partial reduction in the antidepressant-like effect of scopolamine (0.3mg/kg) in the TST in C57BL/6 mice and that the effect of scopolamine was comparable to the effect of reboxetine (10mg/kg), which was used in this study as a reference drug. The attenuated antidepressant-like effect of scopolamine in AMPT-treated mice was observed in both its immediate (30min after administration) and prolonged (24h after administration) action in the TST. On the other hand, serotonin depletion by PCPA-pretreatment had no effect on the antidepressant effect of scopolamine (0.3mg/kg) either 30min or 24h after administration. Furthermore, a dose-dependent decrease in the immobility ...
Source: Progress in Neuro Psychopharmacology and Biological Psychiatry - Category: Psychiatry Source Type: research