ArticleNeuropsychiatric disease and treatment2012
Behavioral interactions of simvastatin and fluoxetine in tests of anxiety and depression.
Article in Neuropsychiatric disease and treatment, 2012. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
12 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 36 citations in OpenAlex.
- The association of statin use with the risk of anxiety: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2026Pooled it
- The effect of SSRIs on unconditioned anxiety: a systematic review and meta-analysis of animal studies.Psychopharmacology · 2024Pooled it
- Statins in Depression: An Evidence-Based Overview of Mechanisms and Clinical Studies.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2021Pooled it
- Simvastatin ameliorates synaptic plasticity impairment in chronic mild stress-induced depressed mice by modulating hippocampal NMDA receptor.Psychopharmacology · 2024Article
- The pharmacological bases for repurposing statins in depression: a review of mechanistic studies.Translational psychiatry · 2023Review
- Environmental Enrichment and Physical Exercise Attenuate the Depressive-Like Effects Induced by Social Isolation Stress in Rats.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2020Article
- Selective inhibition of intestinal 5-HT improves neurobehavioral abnormalities caused by high-fat diet mice.Metabolic brain disease · 2019Article
- Nicotine Significantly Improves Chronic Stress-Induced Impairments of Cognition and Synaptic Plasticity in Mice.Molecular neurobiology · 2017Article
- Effects of Simvastatin Beyond Dyslipidemia: Exploring Its Antinociceptive Action in an Animal Model of Complex Regional Pain Syndrome-Type I.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2017Article
- Simultaneous administration of fluoxetine and simvastatin ameliorates lipid profile, improves brain level of neurotransmitters, and increases bioavailability of simvastatin.Journal of experimental pharmacology · 2017Article
- Evidence for the involvement of NMDA receptors in the antidepressant-like effect of nicotine in mouse forced swimming and tail suspension tests.Psychopharmacology · 2015Article
- Myristic acid produces anxiolytic-like effects in Wistar rats in the elevated plus maze.BioMed research international · 2014Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Simvastatin inhibits 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl CoA reductase, the rate-limiting enzyme in the cholesterol biosynthetic pathway, and is widely used to control plasma cholesterol levels and prevent cardiovascular disease. However, emerging evidence indicates that the beneficial effects of simvastatin extend to the central nervous system. The effects of simvastatin combined with fluoxetine provide an exciting and potential paradigm to decreased anxiety and depression. Thus, the present paper investigates the possibility of synergistic interactions between simvastatin and fluoxetine in models of anxiety and depression. We investigated the effects of subchronically administered simvastatin (1 or 10 mg/kg/day) combined with fluoxetine (2 or 10 mg/kg) at 24, 5, and 1 hour on adult rats before conducting behavioral tests. The results indicate that simvastatin and/or fluoxetine treatment reduces anxiety-like behaviors in the elevated plus-maze and open-field tests. Our results showed that simvastatin and/or fluoxetine induced a significant increase in the swimming activity during the forced swimming test (antidepressant effect), with a concomitant increase in climbing time in simvastatin-treated animals only (noradrenergic activation). We hypothesize that anxiolytic and antidepressant effects of simvastatin and/or fluoxetine produce their behavioral effects through similar mechanisms and provide an important foundation for future preclinical research.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.