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In our earlier study we reported the antidepressant activity of ondansetron in obese mice. The present study investigates the effect of ondansetron on depression and anxiety associated with obesity in experimental mice with biochemical evidences. Male Swiss albino mice were fed with high fat diet (HFD) for 14 weeks to induce obesity. Then the subsequent treatment with ondansetron (0.5 and 1 mg/kg, p.o.), classical antidepressant escitalopram (ESC) (10 mg/kg, p.o.) and vehicle (distilled water 10 ml/kg, p.o.) was given once daily for 28 days. Behavioral assay for depression including sucrose preference test, forced swim test (FST) and anxiety such as light dark test (LDT) and hole board test (HBT) were performed in obese mice. Furthermore, in biochemical estimations oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT), plasma leptin, insulin, corticosterone, brain oxidative stress marker malonaldehyde (MDA), antioxidant reduced glutathione (GSH) and serotonin assays were performed. Results indicated that HFD fed obese mice showed severe depressive and anxiety-like behaviors. Chronic treatment with ondansetron inhibited the co-morbid depression and anxiety in obese mice by increasing sucrose consumption in sucrose preference test and reducing the immobility time in FST, increasing time and transitions of light chamber in LDT, improving head dip and crossing scores in HBT compared to HFD control mice. Ondansetron in obese mice inhibited glucose sensitivity in OGTT, improved plasma leptin and insulin sensitivity, reversed hypothalamic pituitary adrenal (HPA) axis hyperactivity by reducing the corticosterone concentration, restored brain pro-oxidant/anti-oxidant balance by inhibiting MDA and elevating GSH concentrations and facilitated serotonergic neurotransmission. In conclusion, ondansetron reversed the co-morbid depression and anxiety associated with obesity in experimental mice by attenuating the behavioral and biochemical abnormalities.

Stimulation of high oxidative stress in the brain is considered as an important factor for neurotoxicity towards the pathophysiology of chronic stress-induced depression disorder. In the present research, a potential 5-HT 3 receptor antagonist N -n-butyl-3-methoxy quinoxaline-2-carboxamide ( 6o ) having good Log P (2.60) and p A 2 (7.7) values was examined for its effect on the behavioral and biochemical changes induced by the chronic unpredictable mild stress (CUMS) model. In the current investigation mice were introduced to different stress procedures daily for a period of 28 days to induce a depressive-like behavior. The results show that CUMS caused a depression-like behavior in mice, as indicated by the significant decrease in sucrose consumption and locomotor activity and increase in immobility in the forced swim test (FST). Moreover, it was found that oxidative stress markers such as lipid peroxide and nitrite levels were significantly increased, whereas, antioxidant enzymes such as glutathione (GSH), superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT) levels were decreased in the brain tissue of CUMS-subjected mice. “Compound 6o ” (1 and 2 mg/kg, p.o.) and fluoxetine treatment (20 mg/kg, p.o.) for a period of 21 days altered the CUMS-induced behavioral (increased immobility period, reduced sucrose preference and decreased locomotor activity) and biochemical (increased lipid peroxide, increased brain nitrite; decreased GSH, SOD and CAT levels) alterations. Moreover normal mice treated with “compound 6o ” (2 mg/kg, p.o.) showed a significant decrease in the duration of immobility in FST as compared to normal vehicle treated mice. In conclusion, “compound 6o ” produced antidepressant-like effects in behavioral despair paradigm in chronically stressed mice by restoring antioxidant enzyme activity.

The present study was designed to investigate the putative antidepressant-like activity of 7a, a 5-HT3 receptor antagonist, (although indirect evidence of 5-HT3 antagonism) with an optimal log P (3.35) and pA2 value (7.6) greater than ondansetron (pA2 — 6.6) using behavioural tests battery of depression. Acute treatment of 7a (0.5-2 mg/kg, i.p.) in mice produced antidepressant-like effects in forced swim test (FST) and tail suspension test (TST) without affecting the baseline locomotion in actophotometer test in mice. Moreover, the combination of a sub-effective dose of 7a (0.25 mg/kg, i.p.) and fluoxetine (5 mg/kg, i.p.) produced an anti-immobility effect in mouse FST. Pretreatment of mice with p-chlorophenylalanine methyl ester (PCPA; 100 mg/kg, i.p., an inhibitor of serotonin (5-HT) synthesis, for 4 consecutive days) and 1-(m-Chlorophenyl)-biguanide (mCPBG, 10 mg/kg, i.p., a 5-HT3 receptor agonist) prevented the anti-immobility effects of 7a (2 mg/kg, i.p.) in the mouse FST. In addition, 7a (0.5–2 mg/kg, i.p.) treatment also potentiated the 5-hydroxytryptophan (5-HTP) and pargyline induced head twitch response in mice. Furthermore, sub-chronic treatment (14 days) with 7a (0.5–2 mg/kg, i.p.) and paroxetine (10 mg/kg, i.p.) significantly attenuated the behavioural anomalies induced by bilateral olfactory bulbectomy in rats in a modified open field paradigm. These results suggest that the antidepressant-like action of 7a may be mediated by an interaction with the serotonergic system and this molecule should be further investigated as an alternative therapeutic approach for the treatment of depression.