The international journal of neuropsychopharmacology
-
Int. J. Neuropsychopharmacol. · Dec 2005
Involvement of nitric oxide-cGMP pathway in the antidepressant-like effects of adenosine in the forced swimming test.
We have previously shown that an acute administration of adenosine produces an antidepressant-like effect in the forced swimming test (FST) and in the tail suspension test in mice. In this work we investigated the contribution of the nitric oxide (NO)-cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP) pathway to adenosine's antidepressant-like effect in the FST since this signalling pathway is assumed to play an important role in depression. ⋯ The reduction of immobility time elicited by adenosine (10 mg/kg i.p.) in the FST was prevented by pre-treatment with sildenafil (0.5 and 5 mg/kg i.p.). Together the results indicate that the effect of adenosine in the FST appears to be mediated through an interaction with the NO-cGMP pathway.