Melatonin, a hormone of the pineal gland, was evaluated in a variety of animal models of depression. Measurements of the frog righting reflex and rat locomotor activity showed that low doses of melatonin have a serotonin-like potentiating effect following monoamine oxidase inhibition. High doses of melatonin caused a reduction in the duration of rat immobility in the Porsolt model of depression and exerted a chlorpromazine-like effect on conditioned avoidance behaviour. In view of the indoleamine hypothesis of depressive disorders, the possibility of melatonin being a potential antidepressive is discussed and it is concluded that melatonin might be useful in the treatment of "agitated" depressions
Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:rhodes/vital:3728 |
Date | January 1980 |
Creators | Skene, Debra Jean |
Publisher | Rhodes University, Faculty of Pharmacy, Pharmacy |
Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
Language | English |
Detected Language | English |
Type | Thesis, Masters, MSc |
Format | 349 leaves, pdf |
Rights | Skene, Debra Jean |
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