Evaluation of anti-depressant activity of zinc and vitamin B6 as adjuvants to fluoxetine in an animal model of depression

Abstract

Background: Depression is a significant public health problem. It is estimated by the World Health Organization that more than 300 million people suffer from depression globally. Micronutrient deficiencies have been constantly linked to depression. The currently used drugs in treatment of depression modulate the excitatory and/or the inhibitory neurotransmission pathways through different mechanisms. The aim of the present study was to compare the antidepressant effect of the micronutrients, zinc and vitamin B6, as adjuvants to Fluoxetine in Albino Wistar rats.Methods: Eighteen albino wistar rats of 180-280grams of either sex were used in the study to evaluate the anti-depressant activity after approval from the Institutional Animal Ethics Committee. They were divided into three groups of six rats each (3 groups). Group 1 was control group which received only distilled water, group 2 was standard group which received fluoxetine and group 3 was test group which received zinc, vitamin B6 and fluoxetine. The anti-depressant activity was measured using the forced swimming test (FST) which works on the principles of behavioral despair. Data analysis was done using IBM SPSS software, version 25.0 and p value <0.05 was considered statistically significant.Results: The rats of the standard and test groups had latency periods’ means of 268.83±30.16, 126.17±22.33 and 125.33±11.86 on 254.83±13.00, 118.67±8.16 and 127.17±6.68 seconds on days 1, 7 and 14 respectively (p <0.001) and the rats of the standard and test groups had despair periods’ means of 177.00±7.46, 95.17±10.65, 93.17±7.47and 167.17±14.82, 97.33±7.63 and 87.50±4.1 seconds on days 1, 7 and 14 respectively (p <0.001).Conclusions: Supplementation of zinc and vitamin B6 to the standard treatment fluoxetine yielded better anti-depressant activity than fluoxetine alone in rats subjected to stress.