Determination of the antidepressant effect of mirtazapine augmented with caffeine using Swiss-albino mice

Alexis DanielleY.Co,Carlos Miguel Calderon, Andrea Tracy G.Cunanan,Kristin Almira B.De Guzman, Rosvielentine V.Rosales,Melchin Edreen O.Tapan,Deric S.Vengua, Gavino Ivan Tanodra

Faculty of Pharmacy,University of Santo Tomas,España,Manila,Philippines

Determination of the antidepressant effect of mirtazapine augmented with caffeine using Swiss-albino mice

Alexis DanielleY.Co*,Carlos Miguel Calderon, Andrea Tracy G.Cunanan,Kristin Almira B.De Guzman, Rosvielentine V.Rosales,Melchin Edreen O.Tapan,Deric S.Vengua, Gavino Ivan Tanodra

Faculty of Pharmacy,University of Santo Tomas,España,Manila,Philippines

A R T I C L E I N F O

Article history:

Available online 25 November 2015

Mirtazapine

Caffeine

Tail Suspension Test

Forced Swim Test

Immobility time

Depression

Depression is a serious health condition affecting an estimate of 350 million people worldwide.Monotherapy with antidepressants as frst line treatment however is found to have limited benefts as compared to augmentation therapy.Psychoactive agents such as caffeine,when added to the antidepressants are found to have positive effects with depression by acting as an antagonist to adenosine receptors.Male Swiss albino mice were grouped into six,frst three groups with arbitrary doses of the combination of mirtazapine and caffeine and last three control groups being the untreated, mirtazapine-treated and caffeine-treated groups.

Immobility time of the mice when subjected to Forced Swim Test and Tail Suspension Test was used to measure the antidepressant effect of the combination therapy under single blind observation.SEM and ANOVA showed that there is no signifcant difference in the mean immobility time in the tail suspension test of the six groups[F5,100=1.27,P=0.281]and no signifcant difference in the mean immobility time in the forced swim test of the six groups[F5,100=1.27,P=0.281].The results are showed in Fig.1.Although there is no signifcant difference in the immobility time,it was shown in the mean data of the two tests that the combination of mirtazapine and caffeine treated groups had the greatest immobility time as compared to the three control groups.Also,the mean data showed that the group administered with higher dose of mirtazapine had the greatest immobility time.The results aremost likely caused by different confounders that altered the suspected result and difference.

Fig.1–Mean immobility time:Tail Suspension Test(A),Forced Swim Test(B).

Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge the Thomas Aquinas Research Complex(TARC),for providing the necessary facilities to carry out this research work.The authors also acknowledge Mr.Xandro Nieto for assisting in the statistical analysis of the data obtained and Dr.Ivan Tanodra for his guidance,consistently imparting his knowledge and opinions for the beneft of this research work.

R E F E R E N C E S

[1]Ruusunen SM,Lehto T,Tolmunen J,et al.Coffee,tea and caffeine intake and the risk of severe depression in middleaged Finnish men:the Kuopio Ischaemic Heart Disease Risk Factor Study.Public Health Nutr 2010;13:1215–1220.

[2]Depression.;2015[accessed 01.05.15].

*E-mail address:alexisdanielleco@gmail.com.

Peer review under responsibility of Shenyang Pharmaceutical University.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ajps.2015.11.011

1818-0876/©2016 Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V.on behalf of Shenyang Pharmaceutical University.This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).