effects of betaine on ameliorating depression in gonadectomized male rats

Background: depression is a major mental disorder categorized by mood impairment, and betaine has antinociceptive activity in mice. objectives this study aimed to determine the antidepressive activity of betaine in gonadectomized male rats.methods:  twenty adult male rats were allocated to four experimental groups. group 1 was kept in the control group, and castration was performed in the other groups. group 2 was the sham group, which was castrated without treatment. in the imipramine group, the rats were castrated and administered imipramine (15 mg/kg) for two weeks. in group 4, following castration, the rats were intraperitoneally injected with betaine (30 mg/kg) for two weeks, respectively. antidepressive tests were performed using the forced swimming test (fst), tail suspension test (tst), and open field test (oft). at the end of the study, blood samples were collected from each cardiac mouse, and serum malondialdehyde (mda), superoxide dismutase (sod), glutathione peroxidase (gpx), and catalase (cat) levels were determined.results: castration significantly increased the immobility time in the fst and tst and the activity of the rats in the oft (p<0.05). administration of the betaine with castration significantly decreased mobility time on fst and tst and the rat’s movement in oft compared to the untreated group (p<0.05). castration significantly increased serum mda levels and decreased sod, gpx, and cat levels compared to the control group (p<0.05). betaine significantly decreased serum mda levels and enhanced sod, gpx, and cat levels compared to the control group (p<0.05). conclusion: these results suggest that betaine, a natural antioxidant, is beneficial in decreasing castration-induced depressive behaviors.