Rapid and long-lasting antidepressant-like effects of the pituitary adenylate cyclase-activating polypeptide receptor antagonist PA-915 in chronic stress mouse models

Stress-related disorders, such as depression and anxiety, have been one of the most important medical issues. Accumulating evidence suggests that the activation of the pituitary adenylate cyclase-activating polypeptide and its receptor PAC1 are involved in the stress axis and the development of stress-related disorders. We recently developed PA-915, a small-molecule, non-peptide, high-affinity PAC1 antagonist, and demonstrated that it significantly suppresses anxiety-like behavior in acute stress-induced mice. In this study, we aimed to investigate the behavioral effects of PA-915 in chronic stress-induced mouse models of depression, which included repeated social defeat stress, repeated corticosterone administration, and social isolation rearing. PA-915 ameliorated the increased immobility time in the forced swim test in these stress-induced mice. In repeated social defeat stress mice, PA-915 improved anxiety-like and depression-like behaviors and cognitive dysfunction, as assessed by the light-dark, open field, elevated plus maze, sucrose preference, forced swim, Y-maze, and novel object recognition tests. In addition, we evaluated the usefulness of PA-915 as an antidepressant and compared it with ketamine and fluoxetine. In the sucrose preference test, an antidepressant-like effect was observed for 8 weeks in mice that received a single dose of PA-915, which was a similar effect observed with ketamine. In non-stressed control mice, PA-915 did not induce behavioral abnormalities, such as hyperlocomotion, cognitive dysfunction, or dependency. The present results show that PA-915 improves anxiety-like behaviors and cognitive impairment and exerts rapid and long-lasting antidepressant effects in chronic stress-induced mouse models of anxiety and depression, proposing a promising treatment option for stress-related disorders.