Effect of long-term caffeine administration on depressive-like behavior in rats exposed to chronic unpredictable stress

Abstract

Chronic unpredictable stress (CUS) was used to study the effects of a long-term treatment with either caffeine (8 mg/kg, orally) or desipramine (DMI) (10 mg/kg, intraperitoneally) in Wistar rats. The CUS procedure was applied for 6 weeks. Animals underwent a 2-week drug-free CUS procedure. Drugs were administered for 4 weeks alongside the stress and both drug and stress were continued throughout the behavioral testing period. CUS-exposed rats showed depressive-like behavior with reduced weight gain, reduced consumption of sucrose solution, increased immobility in the forced swimming test, and hypolocomotion in an open field. For the open field and elevated plus maze, calculation of an anxiety index confirmed that CUS increased anxiety, which was accompanied by an increase in the core temperature. DMI counteracted these physical and behavioral changes. Caffeine caused similar effects to DMI on weight gain, motor activity, anxiety level, and core temperature. In CUS-exposed rats, caffeine showed antidepressant and anxiolytic activity, accompanied by increased hippocampal dopamine and serotonin levels. However, no significant change in weight gain or core temperature was observed after caffeine treatment in CUS-exposed rats. These results suggest that, similar to the antidepressant DMI, long-term caffeine exposure exerts an antidepressant and anxiolytic effect in the CUS model. The involvement of the dopaminergic and serotonergic systems is discussed.