Publications by authors named "Magdalena Otczyk"

Antiepileptic drugs affect endocrine and immune system activity, however, it is not clear whether these effects are indirect, via interference with neurotransmitters, membrane receptors and ion channels or maybe independent of neuronal mechanisms. In order to shed more light on this problem, in the present study, we evaluated effects of some new-generation antiepileptic drugs and progabide as a GABA-mimetic on the corticosterone-induced chloramphenicol acetyltransferase (CAT) activity in mouse fibroblast cells stably transfected with mouse mammary tumor virus (MMTV)-CAT plasmid. Treatment of cells with felbamate for five days inhibited in a concentration-dependent manner (3-100 microM) the corticosterone-induced reporter gene transcription.

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Aberrant activity of hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis is often observed in psychiatric disorders and both antidepressant and antipsychotic drugs are known to ameliorate some deleterious effects of glucocorticoids on brain function. Some neurosteroids possess antidepressant and neuroleptic-like properties and attenuate the stress-activated HPA axis activity. However, intracellular mechanism of neurosteroid interaction with glucocorticoids has not been elucidated.

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Antidepressant drugs are thought to counteract effects of hypercortisolemia, frequently associated with depression, by lowering cortisol level and by modifying the function of glucocorticoid receptors (GR). Indeed, classical antidepressants inhibit corticosteroid-induced gene transcription in cell cultures. The aim of the present study was to investigate effects of new generation antidepressant drugs on GR function in mouse fibroblast cells (L929), stably transfected with mouse mammary tumor virus-chloramphenicol acetyltransferase (MMTV-CAT) plasmid (LMCAT cells).

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Antipsychotic drugs can regulate transcription of some genes, including those involved in regulation of hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, whose activity is frequently disturbed in schizophrenic patients. However, molecular mechanism of antipsychotic drug action on the corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH) gene activity has not been investigated so far. This study was undertaken to examine the influence of conventional and atypical antipsychotic drugs on the CRH gene promoter activity in differentiated Neuro-2A cell cultures stably transfected with a human CRH promoter fragment linked to the chloramphenicol acetyltransferase (CAT) reporter gene.

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It has been hypothesized that pro-inflammatory response and hyperactivity of hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical axis (HPA) are involved in the pathogenesis of depression. Hyperactivity of HPA axis results probably from deregulation of glucocorticoid receptor function and impairment of the control mechanism of glucocorticoid secretion. Previously, we found that antidepressants inhibited glucocorticoid receptor (GR) function under the in vitro condition.

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