Sucrose Preference Test Report

(v) Sucrose preference test (anhedonia test) Sucrose preference (SP) test is a measure to evaluate anhedonic effect of CMS [35]. In this test, rats were trained access to two bottles (water and 1% sucrose solution) freely for 7 days. The position of the 250-mL bottles containing sucrose solution or tap water was changed every day, to prevent location preference.Sucrose preference was expressed as percent of the volume of sucrose solution of a total volume of fluid (sacarose plus regular water).

(vi) Data analysis

The Statistical minitab 16.0 was utilized for statistical analyses. All data are presented as mean±S.E.M. Differences among experimental groups were determined by one-way ANOVA followed by Tukey’s post hoc test. p Values less

2. Effects of CMS procedure on sweet food consumption in rats repeatedly treated with amytriptyline or harmine. Bars represent means±S.E.M. * p<0.05). Statistical analysis revealed that CMS rats treated with harmine reverted the reduction of sucrose solution consumption induced by chronic mild stress ([F=3, 27), P=0.012]).

The CMS paradigm is a model of depression wich employs by chronic unpredictable mild stressors [31]. In the CMS model, both consumption of and preference for sucrose intake, as well as decreased intracranial self stimulation behavior, serve as markers of generalized decrease in sensitivity to reward and they are quite related to anhedonia [35, 55,56]. In accordance with the literature, present data confirm that rats subjected to CMS procedure consume less sweet food compared to non-stressed rats treated with saline [57, 58, 59,60]. These findings suggest that, under our experimental conditions, the CMS procedure induced anhedonic-like behavior in our

In the present study ,The behavioral effects induced by harmine in rats reported are in coincidence with the literature data, which support an antidepressant action for harmine in basic studies wich could be due to interactions of harmine and related alkaloids s with several receptor systems act as agonists at serotonin receptors [61, 62; 63] ; involved in the modulation of behavioral and molecular actions of antidepressants. [62, 64,65, 28,29]. B carbolines, mainly harmine and harmaline, inhibit MAO activity [67], Furthermore, as MAO inhibitors, ß-carbolines can increase the level of serotonin in the brain [68],and are capable of inducing direct psychoactive effects [69,70]. [71] also suggested that harmine augments dopamine efflux via a novel shell-specific, presynaptic 5-HT2A receptor dependent mechanism, independent of MAO inhibitory activity.

Consistent with previous studies in which 40 day of CMS and in the forced swimming test significantly induced depressive-like behavior in rats [26,72], the results of the present study also showed that chronic mild stress induced significant depressive-like behavior, including decreased sacarose solution intake.

CONCLUSION

From the above observations we can conclude that acute administration of harmine pocesses anxiolytic activity & Anti depressant