Eranil I.Vardi N.Yildiz A.Parlakpinar H.Özhan O.2024-08-042024-08-0420201306-7656https://doi.org/10.5336/CARDIOSCI.2020-74496https://hdl.handle.net/11616/91530Objevtive: The present study was designed to examine the effects of high dose and low dose duloxetine on Cx43, a gap junction (GJ) protein; on S100A, cardiac contractility component and on certain early cardiac impairment parameters as TnI and TnT. Material and Methods: The study was performed with 24 male Wistar Albino rats by generating control group (1 ml solvent), low-dose duloxetine (LDD) group (10 mg/kg) and high-dose duloxetine (HDD) group (100 mg/kg). After the experimental procedure, the results concerning blood pressure and heart rates of the anesthetized rats were recorded and HE staining and immunostaining of Cx43, S100A, TnI and TnT were applied to the heart tissue sections. Results: In the control group, Cx43 was stained as marked streaks between cardiomyocytes; TnI, TnT and S100A were stained as homogenous and dark brown in cytoplasm. Nevertheless, intensity of Cx43 immunostaining showed significant increase in duloxetine- treated groups (p<0.001). TnT (p=0.024, p=0.004, p<0.05) and S100A (p<0.001) immunostaining were low in high dose group compared to control group and low dose group. TnI immunostaining also demonstrated significant decrease in high dose duloxetine group as compared to the control group (p<0.001). There was no statistically significant difference between groups in terms of heart rate, ECG parameters, MDA, SOD, GSH and CAT levels (p>0.05). Conclusion: Our study reveals that duloxetine induced an increase in the immunostaining of Cx43, and a decrease in the immunostaining of TnI, TnT and S100A, also known as early cardiac parameters. Furthermore, duloxetine was observed to show no effect on oxidant and antioxidant parameters. While heart rate remained unchanged, mean blood pressure decreased in high dose duloxetine group. In the light of the study outcomes, it has been concluded that antidepressants must be administered more advertently in depression patients with heart disorders. © 2020 by Türkiye Klinikleri. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).eninfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessAntidepressantDuloxetineHeartImmunohistochemistryRatArticle32311612910.5336/CARDIOSCI.2020-744962-s2.0-85099036053Q4