The inflammatory and immune responses evoked in
sepsis may create not only an acute brain dysfunction, which occurs in the majority of septic patients, but also long-term deficits such as memory impairment. In this context, we evaluated depressive-like parameters in
sepsis survivor rats. For this purpose, male Wistar rats, weighing 300-350 g, underwent cecal
ligation and perforation (CLP) (
sepsis group) followed by "basic support", or were
sham-operated (control group). After 3 days of the
sepsis procedure, the animals were treated with
imipramine at 10 mg/kg or saline during 14 days (days 3-17). The consumption of sweet food was measured for 7 days (days 10-17) and the
body weight was measured before CLP, 10, and 17 days after CLP. Seventeen days after
sepsis (immediately after sweet food consumption measurement), the animals were anesthetized and blood was withdrawn for the analyses of
corticosterone and
adrenocorticotropic hormone (
ACTH) levels, and immediately killed by
decapitation. The adrenal gland and hippocampus were immediately isolated and weighed, and the hippocampus was utilized for determining
brain-derived neurotrophic factor (
BDNF) levels. It was observed that animals subjected to CLP presented decreased
sucrose intake. Septic rats did not increase
body weight and presented an increase in the weight of adrenal gland. Both
corticosterone and
ACTH levels were increased, while hippocampus weight and
BDNF levels in the hippocampus decreased. The treatment with
imipramine reversed all the parameters described above. Our results supported the hypothesis that rats that survive
sepsis show depressive-like behavior, alterations in the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis, and decreased
BDNF levels in the hippocampus.