J Korean Soc Biol Ther Psychiatry.  2023 Oct;29(3):87-92. 10.22802/jksbtp.2023.29.3.87.

Effect of Vortioxetine on Alcohol Intake in C57BL/6 Mice

• Choi SR
• Jeong JW
• Huh SY
• Joo BU
• Kim HK
• Kim SG

• KMID: 2547843
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.22802/jksbtp.2023.29.3.87

Abstract

Objectives
The effectiveness of drugs currently used in medication, which is important in the treatment of alcohol use disorders, is limited. Recently, ondansetron which acts as 5-HT3 receptor antagonist, has been studied and proved possibility as new medication for alcohol use disorder. Meanwhile, there are studies supporting that 5-HT1A receptors are related to addictive behavior. Considering those studies, we expect that vortioxetine, which acts as both 5-HT3 receptor antagonist and 5-HT1A receptor agonist, may be effective in treatment of alcohol use disorder. The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of vortioxetine on alcohol intake of C57BL/6 mice.
Methods
In this study C57BL/6 mice were randomly assigned to normal saline group, vortioxetine 10 mg/kg group and vortioxetine 1 mg/kg group. To study effect of vortioxetine on alcohol, water, food intake and body weight of mice, we administered each medication for 14 days.
Results
The overall alcohol intake was different between the three groups (P_Group=0.021), and alcohol intake in vortioxetine 10 mg/kg group was significantly lower than one in placebo group. Change across time points (P_Time<0.001) and the interaction between group and time (P_Group×Time =0.016) were also significant. However, there were no significant differences between the three groups in water, food intake and body weight.
Conclusions
These results indicated that administration of high dose vortioxetine reduced alcohol intake of mice. Therefore, it is necessary to conduct clinical studies to examine the effectiveness of vortioxetine as a new treatment for alcohol use disorder.

Keyword

Vortioxetine; Mice; Inbred C57BL; Alcohol drinking; Alcoholism