Oman Medical Journal (Nov 2011)
The Effect of Amantadine on Clomipramine Induced Sexual Dysfunction in Male Rats
Abstract
Objective: Several studies have reported that Clomipramine has the ability to suppress male rat sexual behavior. Literature indicatesthat the activation of brain D2 receptors causes facilitation of penile erection, and a number of reports have indicated dopamine’s involvement in sexual function. Hence this study was undertaken to investigate the effect of Amantadine, a dopamine agonists on the Clomipramine induced sexual dysfunction. Methods: The study subjects involved a total of 48 males and 48 females, 4 months old Sprague-Dawley albino rats, all housed in a group of six males and females separately in plexi glass cages in an acclimatized colony room (25±0.50C) maintained on a 12/12 hr light/dark cycle. The male rats were randomly divided into four groups of 12 male rats each. Group I served as controls. Group II, III, and IV were treated with Amantadine (9 mg/kg body weight, p.o) 30 min, prior to the treatment with 13.5 mg/kg, 27 mg/Kg and 54 mg/Kg bodyweight p.o of Clomipramine respectively for 60 days. The control group received vehicle 1 ml/kg p.o. The sexual behavior of the male rats was observed to determine the following parameters: mount latency, intromission latency, ejaculation latency, post ejaculatory pause, and intromission frequency. As well as the sexual behavior; serum testosterone and histopathology of the testes were also investigated in this study. Results: The results indicate that Amantadine in all aspects failed to antagonize Clomipramine induced sexual dysfunction in male rats. Even the sexual competence of male rats treated with 1/2 therapeutic dose (TD) of Clomipramine failed to regain their sexual competence in the presence of Amantadine. Testicular damage and decline in testosterone levels continued in the presence of Amantadine. Conclusion: Overall, the results suggest that Amantadine could not be a safe antidote to antagonize Clomipramine induced sexual dysfunction.
