The effects of antidepressant treatment on serotonergic and dopaminergic systems in Fawn-Hooded rats: a quantitative autoradiography study

Fawn-Hooded (FH) rats exhibit a phenotype including depressive behaviour and high alcohol preference, and as such tricyclic antidepressants and selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) reduce alcohol consumption in this rat strain Psychiatr. Genet. 12 (2002) 1-16]. However, the neurochemical effects of these antidepressants on monoamine systems in the brain, especially in mesolimbic areas have not been studied in FH rats. Therefore, the present study investigated neurochemical effects of subchronic treatment (10 days) with desipramine (DMI) and sertraline on several neurochemical markers of serotonin and dopamine systems. Binding to these markers including dopamine transporters (DATs), 5-HT transporters (SERTs), 5-HT(1A)- and 5-HT(2A)-receptors in rat brain sections was performed by quantitative autoradiography. The findings from the present study revealed that DMI and sertraline exhibited differential effects on SERTs and DATs in FH rat brain. For example, DMI caused a dramatic up-regulation of DATs whereas sertraline had no effect on DAT binding. In addition, both antidepressants showed some common and some differential effects on the binding to 5-HT(1A)- and 5-HT(2A)-receptors dependent upon region. These data demonstrate that DMI and sertraline differentially effect serotonergic and dopaminergic systems in mesolimbic regions in FH rats, suggesting that there may be different neurochemical mechanisms underlying their efficacy to reduce ethanol consumption in this animal model.