Objective    To study the mechanism by which antidepressant works on vascular endothelial cell growth factor (VEGF) in rat hippocampus of depression model.      Methods    Forty SD rats were randomly and equally divided into 5 groups: stress+fluoxetine

stress+tianeptine

stress

stress+normal sodium

blank matched control. We adopted separation and chronic unpredicted mild stress to establish depression in all rats except those in blank matched control group

and the behavior of all animals was evaluated by open-field and fluid consumption test. VEGF expression was detected by immunohistochemisty after intragastric administration respectively with fluoxetine

tianeptine or normal sodium for 30 d.     Results    VEGF expression in hippocampus was decreased in all stress groups compared with control group (P0.05). After antidepressant administration for 30 d

VEGF expression in hippocampus was increased in fluoxetine group and tianeptine group compared with normal sodium group (P0.05).     Conclusion    Chronic antidepressant treatment significantly increases VEGF expression in hippocampus of rat depression model

suggesting VEGF may be correlated with the pathophysiology of depression.