الفهرس 
IntroductionOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
Recent evidence indicated that depression may be an independent risk factor for cardiac events in patients without known cardiovascular diseases. The current study was conducted to examine the hypothesis that a pro-inflammatory state might be the common underlying pathology linking depression and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease which might account for the increased incidence of coexistence of these disorders.
In the current study, male Wistar rats were exposed to multiple unpredictable mild stressors over a period of 5 weeks for induction of the chronic mild stress (CMS) model of depression. Since depressed patients have a predilection to food with high fat content, which in itself is a sort of stress, rats were fed a high fat diet (CCT diet) as an extra stressor.
Pentoxifylline, a known suppressor of the pro-inflammatoy cytokine TNF- α was used as a pharmacological tool to investigate the possible involvement of TNF-α in the anhedonia, the core symptom of depression in the CMS model. The involvement of TNF-α in the endothelial destruction and in the subsequent atherosclerotic changes predisposing to cardiac disease, was also investigated. The effects of pentoxifylline were compared to those of the prototype tricyclic antidepressant ”imipramine”.