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Anxiolytic and panicolytic effects ofescitalopram in the elevated T-maze

¹ Division of Psychiatry, School of Medicine of Ribeirão Preto, University of São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, SP, Brazil
² Division of Psychiatry, School of Medicine of Ribeirão Preto, University of São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, SP,Brazil.
³ Department of Pharmacology, School of Medicine of Ribeirão Preto, University of São Paulo, RibeirãoPreto, SP, Brazil.
⁴ Division of Psychiatry, School of Medicine of Ribeirão Preto, University of São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, SP, Brazil.

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed.

	Abstract

Escitalopram is a highly selective inhibitor of serotonin re-uptake that isused to treat anxiety disorders. In the present study, we investigated theeffects of acute, sub-chronic (14 days) and chronic (21 days) administrationof escitalopram (2, 4 and 8mg/kg, PO) on the performance of ratsin the elevated T-maze. For comparison, imipramine (15mg/kg, PO) wasalso studied. The apparatus is made of three elevated arms of equaldimension, one enclosed transversal to the two open arms. Inhibitoryavoidance of the open arms, trained in the enclosed arm, has been relatedto generalised anxiety disorder, while one-way escape from one openarm, to panic disorder. After acute administration, the three doses ofescitalopram impaired avoidance (anxiolytic effect), while imipraminewas ineffective. Escape was unaffected by either drug. With subchronicadministration, both drugs were ineffective on either avoidance or escape. After chronic treatment, avoidance was impaired by imipramineand by the two highest doses of escitalopram. In addition, escape wasimpaired (panicolytic effect) by imipramine and by the highest dose ofescitalopram. Locomotion measured in a square arena was increased bythe three doses of escitalopram, given chronically. Therefore, bothimipramine and escitalopram had anxiolytic and panicolytic-like effectsafter chronic administration, but acutely only escitalopram decreasedanxiety. Since no such effect was observed following subchronic administration,it is likely that the mechanisms of the early and late anxiolyticactions of escitalopram are different.

Key Words: serotonin, anxiety, panic, animal model

First published on January 21, 2008, doi:10.1177/0269881107079866

Journal of Psychopharmacology 2008;22:132.

A more recent version of this article appeared on March 1, 2008


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