The effects of dehydroepiandrosterone in schizoprenia models in rats

FS KILIC1, D KULLUK1, A MUSMUL2. 1Eskisehir Osmangazi University Medical Faculty, Dept. of Pharmacology 26480, Turkey, 2Eskisehir Osmangazi University Medical Faculty, Dept. of Biostatistics 26480, Turkey

Objective: The evidence from clinical trials suggest that dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), a precursor of gonadal hormones, has protective effect and enhances symptoms in schizophrenia, displays estrogen-like effect, and acts in a manner like typical neuroleptics. We aimed to examine the effects of DHEA on animal models of schizophrenia.

Materials and Methods: Female Swiss-albino mice were used (n=7 for all groups; total n=70) Amphetamine-induced hyperlocomotion, apomorphine (a dopamine agonist)-induced climbing and haloperidol-induced catalepsy tests were used as animal models of schizophrenia. Amphetamine (3mg/kg i.p.), apomorphine (1,5mg/kg s.c.) and haloperidol (1,5mg/kg s.c.) were used to induce related models. DHEA was used at doses of 50 and 100mg/kg and administered i.p. for 5 days. Kruskall-Wallis test was used for hyperlocomotion test and One-Way ANOVA was used for climbing and catalepsy tests for statistical analysis.

Results: We observed that DHEA reduced locomotor activity and increased catalepsy at both doses while it had no effect on climbing behavior.

Conclusion: We suggest that DHEA displays typical neuroleptic-like effect and may be used in the treatment of schizophrenia and also higher dose of DHEA (100 mg/kg) is more effective in schizophrenia models.