EFFECTS AND UNDERLYING MECHANISM OF 5-LIPOXYGENASE INHIBITOR (ZILEUTON) ON MICE DEPRESSIVE-LIKE BEHAVIOR

Objective: Treatment experiment was conducted to investigate the effectiveness and mechanism of the action of zileuton in corticosteroid-induced depressive mice model through neuroinflammation. Methods: The mice were randomly separated into four groups: (Veh+Veh), (Corticosteroid+Veh), (Corticosteroid+ZIL50), and (Corticosteroid+ZIL100). Intraperitoneal injection of corticosterone (CORT) (20 mg/kg for 6 weeks) was used in the mice to induce depression and neuroinflammation diverse from the Veh+Veh group, which was injected only physiological saline. The drug-treated groups (Corticosteroid+ZIL50 and Corticosteroid+ZIL100) were orally administered with the mentioned doses of zileuton. After confirming the effectiveness of zileuton through the behavioral tests, the mechanism of the action of the drug was explored through a set of biochemical assays. Results: Zileuton (50/100 mg/kg) administration improved the performance of the mice in the behavioral experiments (p