Acute ghrelin administration reverses depressive like behavior induced by bilateral olfactory bulbectomy in mice

Congreso; XXVI Congreso Anual de la Sociedad Argentina de Investigación en Neurociencia (SAN); 2011

Ghrelin (Ghr) is an orexigenic peptide produced in the stomach. Recent studies seem to indicate that metabolic signals as Ghr may interact with central nervous circuits regulating reward and mood. Thus, Lutter & col have suggested that Ghr could defend against depressive-like symptoms of chronic stress in a restricted food intake model(2008). The bilateral olfactory bulbectomy(OB) in rodents is an animal model that appears to fulfill many of the criteria necessary for depression study. Take in mind the possibility that Ghr could be an alternative therapeutic tool for the depression treatment, we study if the acute intracerebroventricular Ghr infusion (0.3 & 3.0 nmol/µl) reverts some of the depressive-like behaviors induced by OB in female mice. We have evaluated the immobility time in the tail suspension test, a test predictive of antidepressant activity. The OB animals treated with saline (OB-saline) presented an increase on immobility time in relation to sham (OB-saline:93.22 ± 8.92 vs Sham-saline:59.02 ± 6.31; p ≤ 0.05), but the acute Ghr 3.0 nmol/µl infusion induced an decrease on immobility time in relation to OB-saline (OB-Ghr 3.0 nmol/μl:6.95 ± 1.25 vs OB-saline:93.22 ± 8.92; p ≤ 0.05), indicating that Ghr could reverts the immobility response in OB.