Effects of chronic fluoxetine treatment on catalepsy and the immune response in mice with a genetic predisposition to freezing reactions: the roles of types 1A and 2A serotonin receptors and the tph2 and SERT genes.

ASC (Antidepressant-Sensitive Catalepsy) mice, bred for a high predisposition to catalepsy, are characterized by depression-like behavior and decreased immune responses. Chronic administration of fluoxetine, which is a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor antidepressant widely used in clinical practice, to mice of this strain weakened catalepsy and normalized the number of rosette-forming cells in the spleen. In mice of the parental cataleptic strain CBA/Lac, fluoxetine had no effect on the level of catalepsy or the immune response. Analysis of the effects of fluoxetine on the functional activity of 5-HT(1A) and 5-HT(2A) receptors, and the expression of 5-HT(1A) receptor genes in the frontal cortex and midbrain and 5-HT(2A) receptors in the frontal cortex, as well as the tryptophan hydroxylase-2 and the serotonin transporter genes in the midbrain showed that the antidepressant had no effect on these parameters in ASC mice, but decreased the functional activity of 5-HT(2A) receptors in CBA/Lac mice. The possibility that the actions of fluoxetine on catalepsy and the immune response in mice with depression-like states are mediated via other serotoninergic mechanisms is discussed.