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Bulletin of Experimental Biology and Medicine, Vol. 148, No. 1, 2009 PHARMACOLOGY AND TOXICOLOGY
Comparison of Antidepressant Effects of Azafan, Tianeptine, and Paroxetine
G. N. Aleeva, G. M. Molodavkin*, and T. A. Voronina*
Translated from Byulleten Eksperimentalnoi Biologii i Meditsiny, Vol. 148, No. 7, pp. 65-67, July, 2009 Original article submitted April 15, 2009
Antidepressant activity of Russian product Azafen (pipofezine) and foreign products Paroxetine and Tianepine was compared using behavioral despair test (Porsolt test) and forced swimming test in a container with wheels (Nomura). Azafen signicantly shortened the duration of depressive state in both tests. The results suggest that Azafen exhibits pronounced antidepressant activity, superior to that of the reference drugs.
Key Words: antidepressant activity; Azafen; Paroxetine; Tianeptin
The search for efcient antidepressants with minimum side effects remains a pressing problem, despite dynamic development of psychopharmacological investigation. New groups of products with improved characteristics and original mechanism of action were obtained; the new drugs produce selective effects on serotonin and norepinephrine transmission and are characterized by minor side effects, better tolerance, but lesser thymoleptic activity, particularly in the treatment of severe depression [5], or dose-dependent effects [6]. Moreover, such pharmaceuticals are very expensive. Original Russian product Azafen (pipofezine) can partially compensate shortage in antidepressant agents on the Russian market. Azafen is a member of the tricyclic antidepressant family and nonselective monoamine reuptake inhibitors; it exhibits thymoanaleptic, sedative, and anxiolytic properties. At the same time, the agent does not practically block muscarinic receptors and does not affect monoamine oxidase activity.
Here we compared antidepressant activity of Russian product Azafen with that of well-known foreign products, including Paroxetine (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor) and Tianeptine (tricyclic antide-
pressant and serotonin reuptake stimulator) in accordance with current basic methods for the assessment of antidepressants with different mechanisms of action.
MATERIAL AND METHODS
Experiments were carried out on 70-90 day-old mongrel albino rats weighing 200-250 g (n=240, Stolbovaya nursery, Russian Academy of Sciences). The animals were...