Korean J Psychopharmacol.  2002 Dec;13(4):262-268.

Effects of Maternal Separation and Fluoxetine Treatment on the Expressions of Nitric Oxide Synthases in Hypothalamus of Rat Brain

• Cho GJ
• Kim SA
• Lee HJ
• Chung JH
• Kim JW

Abstract

OBJECTIVE
This study was aimed to clarify the effects of maternal separation and fluoxetine treatment on the expression of nitric oxide synthase (NOS) in rat hypothalamus.
METHODS
Rat pups were separated from their mother and socially isolated on postnatal day 15 and were treated with fluoxetine (10 mg/kg/day) for 7 days, after which nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate-diaphorase (NADPH-d) histochemical staining were carried out.
RESULTS
The maternal separation with normal saline treatment group showed significant decrease in the density of NADPH-d positive neurons in comparison with continous maternal care group in paraventricular nucleus (PVN). In the maternal separation with fluoxetine treatment group, the density of NADPH-d positive neurons was significantly increased in PVN compared to the maternal separation with normal saline treatment group.
CONCLUSION
These results suggests role of NOS in the biological mechanism of maternal separation and the action of fluoxetine. We expect these will be used as basis for evaluation of pathophysiology of stress or maternal separation-related disorders in clinical aspect.

Keyword

Maternal separation; Stress; Fluoxetine; Nitric oxide synthase

MeSH Terms

Animals
Brain*
Fluoxetine*
Humans
Hypothalamus*
Mothers
NAD
Neurons
Nitric Oxide Synthase
Nitric Oxide*
Paraventricular Hypothalamic Nucleus
Rats*
Fluoxetine
NAD
Nitric Oxide
Nitric Oxide Synthase