Zinc Chloride Reverse Influence on Dexamethasone Depressant Effects in Adult Male Rats

Background: cumulative evidence shows that dysregulation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (hpa) axis is involved in the depressive disorders and natural or synthetic glucocorticoids have a direct effect on hpa activity. objectives: considering the reports that show zinc deficiency is one of the causes of depressive-like behavior, the current study aimed to examine the effects of systemic injection of zinc chloride (zncl2) and/or dexamethasone sodium-phosphate (dex) on depression in adult male rats.materials and methods: different groups received zncl2 (2.5, 5, 10, and 20 mg/kg) and dex (0.5, 1, 5, 10, and 30 mg/kg) and then depression was assessed in the forced swimming test (fst).results: results showed that dex 1 significantly increased, while dex 30 and groups treated with zinc 10 mg/kg and zinc 20 mg/kg decreased total immobility time as compared to that of saline group. also there was a significant decrease of total immobility time when zinc administered to rats already received dex 1, compared with that of control group. conclusions: the current study findings suggest that zinc has antidepressant effects dose dependently, while administration of dex induced dual effects on depression; therefore, a low dose of dex showed an increased level of depressive-like behavior while higher doses had antidepressant effects. also, results showed that zinc administration could ameliorate depressive-like behavior induced via dexamethasone in fst.