Vitamin C and Anxiety
The article above is the product of studies by two students from the PPGNBC program, Emerson Pinheiro and Norma Simone da Costa. In this study, they and their colleagues investigated how the drug Efavirenz could cause anxiety in the brain. Efavirenz is a medication used in the treatment of patients living with HIV. They investigated whether the drug can induce anxiety-like behavior through the formation of free radicals and whether supplementation with vitamin C could protect the brain from developing anxiety-like behavior. They used the zebrafish as an experimental model, which responds to drugs similarly to humans and whose anxiety-like behavior can be assessed through its behavior in aquariums. The results of the study showed that the drug increased anxiety and the amount of free radicals in the animal. Vitamin C decreased the amount of free radicals and the anxious behavior induced by the drug. The effect of vitamin C was greater if applied before the use of the drug. The study showed that Efavirenz is anxiogenic and likely causes anxiety through free radical-generating mechanisms, which could be prevented by taking vitamin C. It is known that people living with HIV who take Efavirenz report anxiety, and perhaps simple measures like taking vitamin C could prevent or reduce these side effects.
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