Efficacy and safety of antidepressant monotherapy in the treatment of bipolar-II depression.

Sparse data exist regarding the risks and benefits of treating bipolar-II depression with antidepressants alone. On the basis of studies of bipolar-I patients, treatment guidelines suggest antidepressants should be augmented with mood stabilizers. Whether these recommendations apply to bipolar-II is unclear.

Selective breeding for an infant phenotype: rat pup ultrasonic vocalization (USV).

To examine processes underlying generational and developmental influences on anxiety, this laboratory produced two lines of (N:NIH strain) rats, selectively bred on the basis extreme rates of ultrasonic vocalization in 2 minutes of isolation at Postnatal Day 10. The research reviewed in this article focuses on: (1) establishment of the selectively bred lines; (2) defining infant behavioral and physiological phenotypes and (3) determining whether infantile USV phenotypes endure over development. The High and Low lines have diverged widely in their USV rates from each other and from the Random control line, which has maintained N:NIH strain rates overall from generation to generation.

Effects of selective breeding for infant rat ultrasonic vocalization on cardiac responses to isolation.

Heart rates (HR) and autonomic control of heart period (HP) during maternal separation and isolation were measured at postnatal days (P) 10 and 18 in rat pups selectively bred for high, low, and random rates of infant ultrasonic vocalization. P10 pups displayed no significant line differences in HRs, strong tonic basal sympathetic control of HP and little sympathetic reactivity to isolation, and no evidence of tonic baseline or phasic parasympathetic responses to isolation. At P18, during isolation and recovery, Low HRs were significantly higher compared with Random and High pups.