The Antidepressant-like Action of Human and Caprine Amniotic Fluid in Rats: Effect of Gender

Depression is a common worldwide burdening mental disease. The amniotic fluid (AF) in both humans and animals has been reported to be associated with reduction of anxiety, pain and with helping the newborns to recognize their mothers. As far as we know, no published work on its possible antidepressant action has been reported before. Therefore, we tested here if AF has an anti-depressant- like activity, and investigated if there is a gender difference in this action. Also, we wanted to find out if this possible action can be modified by a known antidepressant drug. Sixty male and female Wister rats were divided randomly into five groups in each gender, and treated with the following: water (control), human AF, goat AF, venlafaxine and venlafaxine+ human AF. AF and venlafaxine were given orally by gavage at a dose of 0.2ml/ Kgonce a day for five days. Twenty four hours later, locomotor activity test, and the forced swimming test (FST) were measured. Motor activity and immobility time in the FST were both significantly reduced in male and female rats treated with human and caprine AF. Rats treated with human AF showed the least activity. The latter effects were not significantly affected by concomitant treatment with venlafaxine and human AF. The biochemical mechanisms of antidepressant like effect of AF warrant further study.