Attenuation of unpredictable chronic mild stress induced deficits in rats by apomorphine

Objective: to investigate the effects of repeated doses of apomorphine in rats exposed to unpredictable chronic mild stress. methods: the experimental case-control study was conducted in march 2011 at the department of biochemistry,university of karachi,and comprised albino-wistar rats. the experimental animals were exposed to a schedule of unpredictable chronic mild stress,while control animals were left in the cages. animals of stressed and unstressed group were administrated with apomorphine at dose of 1.0 mg/kg repeatedly. daily food intake and activity in familiar environment were monitored to observe the anorexic effects and behavioural sensitisation after apomorphine administration. results: the 24 rats in the study were divided into two groups. apomorphine-induced anorexia was seen more in stressed animals (p<0.05). apomorphine increased motor activity monitored in a familiar environment and apomorphine-induced behavioural sensitisation was more potentiated in animals previously exposed to unpredictable chronic mild stress as they showed more cage crosses after 2nd and 3rd (p<0.05) and 4th to 6th (p<0.01) injections compared to the stressed rats with saline. these animals also exhibited hyperactive response in open field apparatus after 1st and 6th injection (p<0.01) compared to the saline-injected stressed rats. conclusion: repeated administration of apomorphine at 1.0 mg/kg dose alleviated the behavioural deficits of unpredictable chronic mild stress. © 2016,pakistan medical association. all rights reserved.