Antioxidant activity of fluoxetine: studies in mice melanoma model

In vivo effects of the antidepressant fluoxetine on spleen antioxidant status of C57BL/6 mice were studied using a melanoma experimental model. After a 14-day treatment with fluoxetine (10 mg kg(-1) day(-1), i.p.), the endogenous antioxidant non-enzyme (glutathione) and enzyme (superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione peroxidase (GPx)) defense systems in spleen of healthy animals were not changed; the lipid peroxidation (LP) was also unchanged. When B16F10 melanoma cells were introduced in C57BL/6 mice 2 h before fluoxetine treatment, a drug-protective effect against the melanoma-induced oxidative changes (increased LP and decreased total glutathione (GSH)-level, as well as antioxidant enzyme activities) in spleen was observed. Fluoxetine dose-dependently reduced the amounts of free oxygen radicals (hydroxyl and superoxide anion radicals), generated in chemical systems. Taken together, the present results suggest that fluoxetine, acting as antioxidant, prevents from melanoma-induced oxidative changes in mice spleen.