Lab study, 2007
Can antidepressants reduce anxious-like behavior during low-hormone phases in female rats?
Yes. Fluoxetine, desipramine, nomifensine, diazepam, and progesterone all reduced anxious-like burying behavior during the low-hormone phase. Chlorpromazine had no effect.
What they did
Researchers watched female rats during different phases of their natural cycle and noticed that some buried marbles more when hormone levels were low, less when hormone levels were high. They then tested whether antidepressants or progesterone could stop this behavior.
What they found
Marble burying was enhanced during the low-hormone phase and decreased during the high-hormone phase. Fluoxetine, desipramine, nomifensine, diazepam, and progesterone all reversed the enhanced burying. Chlorpromazine did not work.
What it means for you
This suggests that anxiety-like behavior linked to low hormones in rats might be similar to how irritability appears in women with PMDD. Because antidepressants used for PMDD also worked in rats, this model might help explain how these medicines work. The main limit is that this is an animal study, and only some rats showed the cycle-related behavior.
About the study
- Original title
- Attenuation of estrous cycle-dependent marble burying in female rats by acute treatment with progesterone and antidepressants
- Authors
- Schneider T, Popik P
- Journal
- Psychoneuroendocrinology
- Year
- 2007
- Study design
- Lab study
- What was tested
- Fluoxetine, desipramine, nomifensine, diazepam, progesterone, and chlorpromazine
- Read the paper
- doi.org/10.1016/j.psyneuen.2007.04.003
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