We have already reported that ovariectomized (OVX) rats reduced the spontaneous activity during the dark period due to the decease of serotonin release in the amygdala. In this study, we examined the potential of sertraline, a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor, on the recovery of less spontaneous activity seen in mice with OVX-induced despair-like behaviors. Female 9-week old ICR mice were underwent either OVX or sham surgery. Sertraline (10 mg/kg/day, s.c.) or saline were started to administer to each group for 8 weeks (6 times/week) from the 8th week after OVX. Each spontaneous activity of mouse was evaluated during the dark period (19:00-07:00) using an infrared sensor. Moreover, mRNA expression levels of tryptophan hydroxylase (TPH) and X-box binding protein 1 (XBP1) were measured in the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex using by a real-time PCR method. We found out that the OVX-induced despair-like behaviors were improved by the continuous administration of sertraline. After treatment of OVX, our real-time PCR data showed that sertraline significantly suppressed the upregulation of XBP1 expression levels in both hippocampus and prefrontal cortex, although this suppression of the downregulation of TPH expression levels was seen in only hippocampus. These results suggest that sertraline improves the decrease in spontaneous activity induced by OVX assessed by the hippocampus suppressing decreased serotonin synthesis in the serotonergic neuron.
Keywords: Sertraline; hippocampus; ovariectomized mice; serotonergic neuron; spontaneous activity; tryptophan hydroxylase.