In this study, we aimed to investigate the effects of vitamin E on mouse adrenal glands in immobilization stress. Twenty-eight male, 10-week-old, BALB/C mice weighing 30-45 grams were divided into four groups. Mice were placed in a cage where no movement was allowed 6 hours/day for 7 days for immobilization stress. 10 ml/kg vitamin E was administered orogastrically 1 hour before immobilization stress in the vitamin E and stress+vitamin E group. At the end of the 7th day, all the animals were subjected to elevated-plus maze (anxiety) and forced swimming (depression) tests. Left adrenal glands were dissected for routine paraffin tissue embedding protocol. Adrenal sections were stained with hematoxylin-eosin and Azan. Malonaldehyde (MDA) levels were also measured in the adrenal tissues. Anxiety level (0.023), depression level (p=0.042) and MDA values (p=0.01) were significantly increased in the stress group. Histological sections of the stress group showed cortical atrophy, medullary hypertrophy, vascular dilation and hemorrhage. Azan staining revealed a thinned capsule and corticomedullary fibrosis in the stress group. Pathologies induced by immobilization stress were mostly reversed after vitamin E administration. The results suggested that vitamin E alleviates adverse effects of immobilization stress (oxidative, behavioral and histopathologic changes) in mice.

Psychopharmacology is the field of knowledge concerning drugs acting specifically on distinct psychopathological symptoms such as e.g. psychosis, depression, mania, anxiety, etc. The birth of contemporary psychopharmacology was heralded by a paper by Australian psychiatrist, John Cade, in 1949, describing the therapeutic action of lithium in mania and a paper by French psychiatrists from 1952 demonstrating the therapeutic action of chlorpromazine on psychotic symptoms. Here, the development of antipsychotic, antidepressive, mood-stabilizing (preventing affective recurrences), anxiolytic and pro-cognitive drugs is outlined. Based on the chronology of their introduction into psychiatric treatment and the therapeutic spectrum, three generations of antipsychotic drugs can be distinguished, and two antidepressive and mood-stabilizing drugs. Despite a great accumulation of knowledge on brain function, the mechanism of the majority of psychotropic drugs can be interpreted by their effect on brain neurotransmitters (subtypes, receptors, transporters) such as dopamine, serotonin, noradrenaline, glutamate, and acetylcholine. In the paper, the directions of the development of psychopharmacology, the possibilities of using psychedelics and the like as psychotropic drugs, and the role of psychotherapy in pharmacological context are delineated. Finally, the ongoing controversies on antidepressant drugs, increasing for three decades, are presented, achieving a great media reaction, also in Poland.