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Abstract
Earlier studies showed that chronic electroconvulsive shock (ECS) or imipramine treatment
induced a sub-sensitivity of group I metabotropic glutamate receptors (mGluRs) in
the hippocampus as well as an increase in the receptor protein level in this structure.
In the present study, the effects of chronic imipramine (10 mg/kg, 21 days) or citalopram
(10 mg/kg, 21 days) treatment on the mGlu4 or mGlu7 receptors' protein levels in the
frontal cortex and hippocampus of the rat brain were examined using the Western blot
analysis. We also examined the influence of these drugs' administration on forskolin-stimulated
cAMP formation. A non-selective agonist of all receptors belonging to the III group
of mGluRs, ACPT-1, was used to establish their effects on the cAMP production. It
was found that mGluR7-immunoreactivity both in the hippocampus and in the cerebral
cortex was decreased after citalopram, but not imipramine treatment. No changes were
observed in the mGluR4-immunoreactivity. Prolonged treatment with these two drugs
failed to change the action of group III mGluR agonist, ACPT-1, on the forskolin-stimulated
cAMP accumulation. Our results suggest that the mGluR7 receptor is influenced by prolonged
treatment of the antidepressant drug citalopram in the brain regions that are considered
to be implicated in the clinical response to antidepressant therapy whilst the mGlu4
receptor is not.