Chronic Treatment with the IDO1 Inhibitor 1-Methyl-D-Tryptophan Minimizes the Behavioural and Biochemical Abnormalities Induced by Unpredictable Chronic Mild Stress in Mice - Comparison with Fluoxetine

PLoS One. 2016 Nov 9;11(11):e0164337. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0164337. eCollection 2016.

Abstract

We demonstrated that confronting mice to the Unpredictable Chronic Mild Stress (UCMS) procedure-a validated model of stress-induced depression-results in behavioural alterations and biochemical changes in the kynurenine pathway (KP), suspected to modify the glutamatergic neurotransmission through the imbalance between downstream metabolites such as 3-hydroxykynurenine, quinolinic and kynurenic acids. We showed that daily treatment with the IDO1 inhibitor 1-methyl-D-tryptophan partially rescues UCMS-induced KP alterations as does the antidepressant fluoxetine. More importantly we demonstrated that 1-methyl-D-tryptophan was able to alleviate most of the behavioural changes resulting from UCMS exposure. We also showed that both fluoxetine and 1-methyl-D-tryptophan robustly reduced peripheral levels of proinflammatory cytokines in UCMS mice suggesting that their therapeutic effects might occur through anti-inflammatory processes. KP inhibition might be involved in the positive effects of fluoxetine on mice behaviour and could be a relevant strategy to counteract depressive-like symptoms.

Publication types

  • Comparative Study

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Antidepressive Agents, Second-Generation / pharmacology
  • Chronic Disease
  • Cytokines / metabolism
  • Depression / physiopathology
  • Depression / prevention & control
  • Fluoxetine / pharmacology*
  • Indoleamine-Pyrrole 2,3,-Dioxygenase / antagonists & inhibitors*
  • Indoleamine-Pyrrole 2,3,-Dioxygenase / metabolism
  • Inflammation Mediators / metabolism
  • Kynurenine / metabolism
  • Male
  • Mice, Inbred BALB C
  • Signal Transduction / drug effects
  • Stress, Psychological / physiopathology
  • Stress, Psychological / prevention & control*
  • Time Factors
  • Tryptophan / analogs & derivatives*
  • Tryptophan / pharmacology

Substances

  • Antidepressive Agents, Second-Generation
  • Cytokines
  • Indoleamine-Pyrrole 2,3,-Dioxygenase
  • Inflammation Mediators
  • Fluoxetine
  • Kynurenine
  • Tryptophan
  • 1-methyltryptophan

Grants and funding

The author(s) received no specific funding for this work.