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Effects of acute or 3-day treatments of Hypericum caprifoliatum Cham. & Schltdt. (Guttiferae) extract or of two established antidepressants on basal and stress-induced increase in serum and brain corticosterone levels

Unité de Neuropsychopharmacologie Expérimentale, Faculté de Médecine and Pharmacie, Rouen Cedex, France, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ciências Farmacêuticas, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil

SMK Rates

Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ciências Farmacêuticas, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil

B. Naudin

Unité de Neuropsychopharmacologie Expérimentale, Faculté de Médecine and Pharmacie, Rouen Cedex, France

F. Janin

Unité de Neuropsychopharmacologie Expérimentale, Faculté de Médecine and Pharmacie, Rouen Cedex, France

J. Costentin

Unité de Neuropsychopharmacologie Expérimentale, Faculté de Médecine and Pharmacie, Rouen Cedex, France

J-C. do Rego

Unité de Neuropsychopharmacologie Expérimentale, Faculté de Médecine and Pharmacie, Rouen Cedex, France, jean-claude.dorego{at}univ-rouen.fr

Since depressive patients present alterations in the hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis that are normalised by antidepressants, this HPA axis has been considered as a target of their actions. We have investigated the mechanism of action of a cyclohexane extract of Hypericum caprifoliatum (HCP), which displays antidepressant like activity, by studying, in mice, the influence of HCP and of two established antidepressant drugs, imipramine and bupropion, administered either acutely or semi-chronically (once a day, three consecutive days), on serum and brain cortex corticosterone levels, either in basal conditions or shortly after a forced-swimming session (FSS). Administered acutely, imipramine (20 mg/kg, per os (p.o.)), bupropion (30 mg/kg, p.o.) and HCP (360 mg/kg, p.o.) significantly reduced the immobility time and had no effects on FSS-induced increase of serum and cortical corticosterone levels. Conversely, 3 days repeated treatment with imipramine or bupropion resulted in a significant reduction of immobility time and FSS-induced increase of serum and cortical corticosterone levels. In a different way, repeated treatment with HCP significantly reduced the immobility time and only cortical corticosterone levels in stressed mice. These results indicate that short-term treatments with antidepressants are sufficient to induce modifications in the HPA axis reactivity to stress; and that apparently HCP has an influence on corticosterone levels by a mechanism diverse from the other tested antidepressants.

Key Words: brain cortex and serum corticosterone • forced-swimming stress • imipramine • bupropion • Hypericum caprifoliatum • mouse

This version was published on August 1, 2008

Journal of Psychopharmacology, Vol. 22, No. 6, 681-690 (2008)
DOI: 10.1177/0269881107082898


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