The Effect of Fluoxetine during the Infantile Period on Cognitive and Physiological Functions in Juvenile Male and Female Rats Exposed to Pain in Newborn Age.

Deviations in neuropsychological development in the adolescence are considered in a pediatric clinic as the first peak of deviations with possible suicidal acts, and in the early adulthood - as a second peak their manifestations. The influence of the serotonin reuptake inhibitor fluoxetine in the infantile period (P25-P39) was studied in rats subjected to inflammatory pain in the neonatal period, on cognitive function and the reactivity of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis in juvenile period (P54-P63), which correspond to the listed age periods in humans. Fluoxetine did not affect the spatial memory of control rats of both sexes and normalized the memory of the first day impaired by inflammatory pain in females; combination of pain and fluoxetine worsened long-term memory in females in comparison with males and in comparison with memory of the first day; shorter retention of spatial memory in females compared to males was associated with lower HPA axis reactivity. Our findings suggest that the effect of fluoxetine on the integrative function of the brain and reactivity of the HPA axis in the juvenile period depends on rat sex and neonatal pain.