Fig 1.
The effect of escitalopram (15 mg/kg) and NHT (30 mg/kg) treatments on stress-induced alterations in ethanol preference.
(A) A diagram depicting study design of experiment 1. After acclimation, mice were submitted to UCMS or naïve conditions (4 weeks), subsequently treated with saline, escitalopram or NHT (3 weeks) and screened for ethanol preference (6 days). (B) Stress diminished ethanol preference, while both NHT and escitalopram reversed this stress-induced diminution. n = 15–17 mice per group. #P<0.05 vs. naïve group. **P<0.01 vs. UCMS + saline group.
Fig 2.
The effect of escitalopram (15 mg/kg) and NHT (30 mg/kg) treatments on stress-induced alterations in sucrose preference.
(A) A diagram depicting study design of experiment 2. After acclimation, mice were submitted to UCMS or naïve conditions (4 weeks), subsequently treated with saline, escitalopram or NHT (3 weeks), screened for sucrose preference (6 days) and prepared for neurobiological assessments. (B) Stress diminished sucrose preference, while both NHT and escitalopram reversed this stress-induced diminution. n = 15–17 mice per group. ###P<0.001 vs. naïve + saline group. *P<0.05, ***P<0.001 vs. UCMS + saline group.
Fig 3.
The effects of escitalopram (15 mg/kg) and NHT (30 mg/kg) treatments on stress-induced alterations in hippocampal BDNF and striatal Drd2 levels.
(A) Stress reduced hippocampal BDNF concentration, while both NHT and escitalopram normalized this stress-induced reduction. n = 4–5 mice per group. ###P<0.001 vs. naïve + saline group. ***P<0.001 vs. UCMS + saline group. (B) Stress reduced striatal Drd2 mRNA expression under both saline and escitalopram treatments, but not under NHT treatment. n = 4–6 mice per group. ###P<0.001 vs. naïve + saline group. $ $P<0.01 vs. naïve + escitalopram group. ***P<0.001 vs. UCMS + NHT group.