Background and Objective
Hyperdopaminergic signaling and an upregulated brain arachidonic acid (AA) cascade may contribute to bipolar disorder (BD). Lithium and carbamazepine, FDA-approved for the treatment of BD, attenuate brain dopaminergic D2-like (D2, D3, and D4) receptor signaling involving AA when given chronically to awake rats. We hypothesized that valproate (VPA), with mood-stabilizing properties, would also reduce the D2-like-mediated signaling via AA.
Methods
An acute dose of quinpirole (1 mg/kg) or saline was administered to unanesthetized rats that had been treated for 30 days with a therapeutically relevant dose of VPA (200 mg/kg/day) or vehicle. Regional brain AA incorporation coefficients, k*, and incorporation rates, Jin, markers of AA signaling and metabolism, were measured by quantitative autoradiography after intravenous [1-14C]AA infusion. Whole brain concentrations of prostaglandin (PG)E2 and thromboxane (TX)B2 also were measured.
Results
Quinpirole compared to saline significantly increased k* in 40 of 83 brain regions, and increased brain concentrations of PGE2 in chronic vehicle-treated rats. VPA treatment by itself reduced concentrations of plasma unesterified AA and whole brain PGE2 and TXB2, and blocked the quinpirole-induced increments in k* and PGE2.
Conclusion
These results further support our hypothesis that similar to lithium and carbamazepine, VPA downregulates brain dopaminergic D2-like receptor-signaling involving AA.