Anti-post-traumatic stress disorder effect of sertraline and its effect on nitric oxide / 中国药理学与毒理学杂志

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE To investigate the relationship between the anti-post-traumatic stress disorder(PTSD)effect of sertraline and nitric oxide in fear conditioning rats. METHODS Conditioned fear stress was established by electric shock with a cue tone,and fear extinction training was carried out by giving the rats only tone signals the next day. The rats were treated with sertraline(15 mg · kg-1) intragastrically within 1 h before the experiment for 8 d. Freezing time was tested at the 1st,4th and 7th day after the extinction training in rats. The NO contents were detected by Griess method and the nNOS and iNOS level on amygdala was detected by Western blotting. RESULTS The behavior tests showed that compared with normal control group ,the freezing time was significantly increased in extinction control group and extinction training group(P<0.01),indicating that the conditioned fear model of rats was successfully established. At the 1st and 4th day after conditioned fear extinction training in the rats,freezing time in sertraline(15 mg·kg-1)group was decreased compared with extinction training group (P<0.05). At the 7th day,the freezing time was significantly decreased(P<0.01),indicating that ser?traline reversed the fear response. At the same time,the contents of NO,nNOS and iNOS on amygdala of rats in sertraline group were lower than that in extinction training group(P<0.01). CONCLUSION Sertraline can promote extinction of conditioned fear memory,suggesting that sertraline has anti-PTSD effects on the model of fear condition in rats. The underlying mechanisms may be connected with NO.