This study evaluated the effects of chronic stress and lithium treatments on oxidative stress parameters in hippocampus, hypothalamus, and frontal cortex. Adult male Wistar rats were divided into two ...groups: control and submitted to chronic variate stress, and subdivided into treated or not with LiCl. After 40 days, rats were killed, and lipoperoxidation, production free radicals, total antioxidant reactivity (TAR) levels, and superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione peroxidase (GPx) activities were evaluated. The results showed that stress increased lipoperoxidation and that lithium decreased free radicals production in hippocampus; both treatments increased TAR. In hypothalamus, lithium increased TAR and no effect was observed in the frontal cortex. Stress increased SOD activity in hippocampus; while lithium increased GPx in hippocampus and SOD in hypothalamus. We concluded that lithium presented antioxidant properties, but is not able to prevent oxidative damage induced by chronic variate stress.
Pleasant and unpleasant flavors and odors can modulate pain perception, and the efficacy of sweet flavors in reducing pain seems to be related to its hedonic value. Chronic variate stress paradigm is ...a model of depression, and is suggested to induce anhedonia. We observed previously that lithium may prevent behavioral and neurochemical alterations induced by chronic stress; so we hypothesized that chronically stressed animals may present different nociceptive response to pleasant and unpleasant tastes that could be prevented by lithium treatment. Adult male Wistar rats were divided into four groups, control and stressed, treated or not with lithium. A Chronic Variate Stress paradigm was used, and lithium was added to the chow. After 40 days of treatment, the tail flick latency of the animals was evaluated, and rats were immediately placed in a box with access to a 5% acetic acid solution (acid flavor). After 5 min, tail flick latency was measured again. On the following day, animals were submitted to the same procedure, with the substitution of acetic acid by condensed sweet milk (sweet flavor). The stressed group was the only group who did not present analgesia after sweet taste exposition. All groups, except the control group, presented increased tail flick latency after exposition to the acid flavor. These results indicate that pleasant and unpleasant flavors present different relevance for the induction of antinociception in stressed animals, and the absence of sweet flavor-induced analgesia may represent an anhedonic effect of the chronic variate stress paradigm. On the other hand, perception of different flavors may be more prominent in animals treated with lithium.
