ArticlePsychopharmacology2020
Mechanisms underlying remediation of depression-associated anxiety by chronic N-acetyl cysteine treatment.
Article in Psychopharmacology, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
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.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
14 citing papers in PubMed, 29 citations in OpenAlex.
- Corticosterone-Induced Depression in Rats: Region-Specific and Time-Dependent Dysregulation of Glutamatergic Signaling, Synaptic Markers, and MMP-2 Expression.Molecular neurobiology · 2025Article
- The Central Nervous System Modulatory Activities of N-Acetylcysteine: A Synthesis of Two Decades of Evidence.Current issues in molecular biology · 2025Review
- Molecular Basis of Anxiety: A Comprehensive Review of 2014-2024 Clinical and Preclinical Studies.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Review
- Supplementation with Bioactive Compounds Improves Health and Rejuvenates Biological Age in Postmenopausal Women.Biomolecules · 2025Article
- A Mendelian Randomization Study of the Association Between Loud Music Exposure Frequency and Anxiety Disorders in European Populations.Neuropsychiatric disease and treatment · 2025Article
- A localized tracing technique to explore intra-amygdala functional and structural correlates of individual variability in behavioral response.Frontiers in molecular neuroscience · 2025Article
- The role and therapeutic potential of mitophagy in major depressive disorder.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2025Review
- Intricate mechanism of anxiety disorder, recognizing the potential role of gut microbiota and therapeutic interventions.Metabolic brain disease · 2024Review
- Sex-specific interactions between stress axis and redox balance are associated with internalizing symptoms and brain white matter microstructure in adolescents.Translational psychiatry · 2024Article
- Role of Imaging Modalities andACS chemical neuroscience · 2023Article
- Antidepressant-like Effects ofBehavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Article
- Novel Pharmacological Approaches to the Treatment of Depression.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Review
- Chronic N-acetylcysteine treatment improves anhedonia and cognition in a mouse model of the schizophrenia prodrome.Frontiers in behavioral neuroscience · 2022Article
- Antidepressant Shugan Jieyu Capsule Alters Gut Microbiota and Intestinal Microbiome Function in Rats With Chronic Unpredictable Mild Stress -Induced Depression.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
rationaleAnxiety is one of the most comorbid conditions with major depressive disorder (MDD). Depression-associated anxiety often stems from the dysfunctional hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and its altered regulation by the amygdala. Furthermore, MDD is associated with altered glutamatergic processing leading to anxiety and impaired regulation of the HPA axis. Recent studies have demonstrated that N-acetyl cysteine (NAC), a pleiotropic drug, exerts antidepressant-like effect by modulation of hippocampal functions, periterminal release of glutamate, and/or redox systems. However, the effects of NAC on depression-associated anxiety, HPA axis hyperactivity, and amygdalar dysfunctions are relatively unknown.
objectivesAccordingly, we evaluated the effect of NAC on neonatal clomipramine (CLI)-induced adulthood anxiety and accompanying changes in plasma corticosterone levels, amygdalar volumes, neuronal/glial densities, levels of monoamines, and their metabolites in the amygdalar complex.
resultsWe found that chronic treatment with NAC reverses CLI-induced anhedonia and enhanced anxiety. Interestingly, attenuation of CLI-associated anxiety in NAC-treated rats were accompanied by a reversal of adrenal and spleen hypertrophy, and normalization of enhanced plasma corticosterone levels, indicating improved HPA axis functioning. Furthermore, NAC treatment was sufficient to reverse volumetric hypertrophy of basolateral amygdala (BLA), and altered noradrenaline (NA) metabolism in the amygdalar complex. The effects of NAC in the reversal of CLI-induced impairments were similar to that of fluoxetine (FLX).
conclusionsWe suggest that beneficial effects of NAC on antidepressive- and antianxiety-like behaviors are at least in part mediated via restoration of amygdalar and HPA axis functioning. Our results support the hypothesis that NAC might be evolved as a therapeutic strategy for reversal of amygdalar dysfunction in depression.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
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.