Date of Award

1-1-2018

Document Type

Open Access Thesis

Degree Name

Medical Doctor (MD)

Department

Medicine

First Advisor

Robert A. Cowles

Abstract

Parenterally-administered selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI), such as citalopram, increase intestinal mucosal absorptive surface by day 7 of treatment. We hypothesized that enteral citalopram would also induce intestinal mucosal growth, thus allowing for therapy with an oral agent. In the study’s first phase, C57BL/6 mice received peanut butter (PB) pellets containing 10, 50, or 100 mg/kg/day citalopram for 7 days; or 25 mg/kg/day citalopram for 14 or 21 days; or plain PB pellets for 7, 14, or 21 days. In the second phase, C57BL/6 mice received 0, 10, 25, or 50 mg/kg/day citalopram in drinking water for 2, 3, 6, or 8 weeks, or for 6 weeks followed by 2 weeks of drug withdrawal. Two-centimeter ileal segments were harvested and prepared for microscopic assessment of villus height (VH), crypt depth (CD), villus width (VW), and crypt width (CW). Mucosal surface area (MSA) was calculated and data were compared using Student’s t-test. Enteral citalopram given for 14 days in PB pellets resulted in an increased VH (p

Download
Open Access

This Article is Open Access

Share

COinS