Abstract

SIDE EFFECTS OF BRINTELLIX (VORTIOXETINE) STUDIED ON ANT MODEL

Marie-Claire Cammaerts*

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Abstract

Vortioxetine is the active substance of novel antidepressants which not only inhibit the recapture of serotonin, but have also several other physiological actions. According to most practitioners, it is efficient and have nearly no side effects. However, researchers showed that it has some side effects and is not obviously more efficient than the previously used antidepressants. Nothing is reported as for its impact on some important physiological and ethological traits. We thus aimed to fill this gap by working on ants as models. We found that Vortioxetine affected these insects’ food intake, locomotion, audacity, sensory perception, social relationships, cognition, and learning. No adaptation to side effects occurred; habituation to the decrease of stress induced by the drug occurred, and ants developed dependence on Vortioxetine consumption. Compared with the previously used antidepressants, it has no less but lower adverse effects. On the basis of our results and bibliographical information, we advise to care of adults suffering from severe depression using Vortioxetine at low dose, during short time periods, at case-by-case defined dosage, and monitoring them as for their health and their development of dependence on the drug use.

Keywords: Adaptation to drug side effects, addiction, anxiousness, cognition, habituation to drug beneficial effect, locomotion, social relationships.