Lithium inhibits IMPase (inositol monophosphatase) activity, as well as inositol transporter function. To determine whether one or more of these mechanisms might underlie lithium's behavioural effects, we studied Impa1 (encoding IMPase) and Smit1 (sodium-myo-inositol transporter 1)-knockout mice. In brains of adult homozygous Impa1-knockout mice, IMPase activity was found to be decreased; howev...

There is growing evidence that kappa opioid receptor (KOR) antagonists could be a useful class of therapeutics for treating depression and anxiety. However, the overwhelming majority of preclinical investigations examining the behavioral effects of KOR antagonists have been in male rodents. Here, we examined the effects of the long-acting KOR antagonist nor-binaltophimine (norBNI) on immobility...

Stressors during early life induce anxiety- and depressive-like responses in adult rodents. Siberian hamsters (Phodopus sungorus) exposed to short days post-weaning also increase adult anxiety- and depressive-like behaviors. To test the hypothesis that melatonin and exposure to stressors early in life interact to alter adult affective responses, we administered melatonin either during the perin...

The effect of inositol as an antidepressant was previously demonstrated in both animal models of depression-like behavior and in clinical trials. Unlike most antidepressant drugs, inositol does not have a clear target in the synapse and was not demonstrated to alter monoamine levels in the brain. The present study attempted to draw a psychopharmacological profile of inositol's behavioral effect...

The neurogenesis hypothesis of major depression has two main facets. One states that the illness results from decreased neurogenesis while the other claims that the very functioning of antidepressants depends on increased neurogenesis. In order to verify the latter, we have used cyclin D2 knockout mice (cD2 KO mice), known to have virtually no adult brain neurogenesis, and we demonstrate that t...