‘Administration of Fluoxetine incorporated Liposomal Nanoparticles in Repeated Social Defeat Stress Animal Model for the treatment of Depression

Abstract

Depression is categorized as one of the most prevalent psychological mood disorder affecting more than 350 million people worldwide. Headache, shortness of breath, stomach disturbances and general physical tension are the common symptoms of depression as reported by the National Alliance of Mental Health. This ailment needs to be addressed with utmost attention as it leads to loss of work productivity thus resulting in a tremendous economic burden. Antidepressants like Fluoxetine work by altering chemicals called Neurotransmitters namely serotonin, dopamine and norepinephrine that are primarily involved in regulating and alleviating mood. In spite of the availability of large number of drugs, majority of patients are resistant to the current modes of treatment. The blood-brain barrier (BBB) poses a significant obstacle for the transportation of beneficial therapeutic entities to the nervous system. The tight junctions that are present within the endothelial cells of the blood-brain barrier restrict the passage of drugs. In recent years, nanoparticles are receiving significant limelight owing to their small size and efficient brain targeting activity, making them highly suitable to cross the BBB while carrying the drug molecules intact which were otherwise incapable of permeation. In this study, Fluoxetine loaded liposomal nanoparticles were developed to transport the drug across the BBB to the central nervous system with much greater efficiency. For testing the drug-delivery efficiency, mice model of depression namely ‘ Repeated social defeat stress’ was designed in order to induce depression like symptoms in mice and liposomes carrying entrapped antidepressant drug molecules were introduced via intravenous route of administration thereby rendering drug loaded nanoparticles to be a better and improved treatment method.