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PubMed1982

[Effect of morphine on the exploratory behavior of mice].

The authors, after going carefully over the specific bibliography on the matter, report their results relating to exploratory behaviour in mice after administration of morphine (1 mg/kg i.p.). Exploratory behaviour was evaluated using an automatic recording hole-board, that simultaneously registered the locomotor activity. At the used doses, morphine did not produce variations either in exploratory behaviour or in locomotor activity of utilized mice, in comparison with drug-naive subjects. At the end, some possible interpretations are proposed about obtained results.

Animals↗
PubMed1990

Chronic exposure to flumazenil: anxiolytic effect and increased exploratory behavior.

The aim of the present study was to define the behavioral correlates of chronic exposure of adult rats to flumazenil (4 mg/kg/day X 21 days in drinking water). In the holeboard test, performed on day 13 of drug treatment, the animals showed a significantly greater interest for the holes under which objects were placed than for the holes without objects (p less than 0.03), while there was no such difference in the control group. In the plus-maze test, the flumazenil-treated animals spent significantly more time on open arms and left less fecal boluses than the controls when tested in the third week of treatment and 24 hours after flumazenil withdrawal. In the drinking-punishment test, conducted on days 3, 6 and 10 after drug withdrawal, the drug-exposed animals, following shock experience, did not significantly alter their unpunished drinking in subsequent trials, while the control rats significantly reduced (p less than 0.003) their unpunished drinking. Also, the punished drinking revealed a significant "anticonflict" effect of prior exposure to flumazenil (p less than 0.006) which was still observed 6 days after drug withdrawal. There were no group differences in the home-cage food and water consumption during flumazenil treatment; also, the drug treatment had no effect on nociceptive threshold. In summary, chronic treatment with a benzodiazepine receptor antagonist, flumazenil, increased exploratory activity and had a lasting anxiolytic effect.

Animals↗
PubMed1997

Relation of exploratory behavior of rats in elevated plus-maze to brain receptor binding properties and serum growth hormone levels.

Forty-five male Wistar rats were selected according to their behavior in the elevated plus-maze. They were separated as follows: animals with low exploratory activity ('anxious'), an 'intermediate' group and animals having high exploratory activity ('non-anxious'). Various receptor binding studies and hormonal assays were also performed in these selected rats. The affinity of 5-hydroxytryptamine 5-HT2A receptors in the frontal cortex was lower in the 'anxious' rats compared to home-cage controls and 'non-anxious' animals. Moreover, the number of cholecystokinin (CCK) receptors in the hippocampus was significantly elevated in the 'anxious' group compared to home-cage control animals. The blood levels of growth hormone (GH) were significantly lower in the 'non-anxious' rats compared to 'anxious' counterparts. In conclusion, it seems likely that the decreased exploratory activity of rats is related to the increased 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) and CCK mediated neurotransmission in the brain. The different serum levels of GH in the selected rats probably reflect alterations in the activity of 5-HT and CCK.

Animals↗
PubMed2004

Prenatal exposure of Long-Evans rats to 17alpha-ethinylestradiol modifies neither latent inhibition nor prepulse inhibition of the startle reflex but elicits minor deficits in exploratory behavior.

Prenatal administration of synthetic estrogens in humans as well as lower mammals was reported to alter behavior in adulthood. The alterations remain to be characterized according to specific pathophysiological hypotheses. In this study, three common behavioral models of schizophrenia were tested, i.e., latent inhibition (LI), prepulse inhibition of the startle response (PPI) and hyperlocomotion under amphetamine. Female Long-Evans rats were injected i.p. with a solution of 17alpha-ethinylestradiol (15 microg kg(-1)) everyday from day 9 to 14 of pregnancy, and behavioral characteristics of their offspring, raised by Wistar foster mothers, were compared to those of rats born from dams injected with the vehicle only, over the same gestation period. LI was tested in a conditioned taste aversion and a conditioned passive avoidance paradigm followed by a parametric study of PPI and an evaluation of locomotion in an open field under saline or amphetamine (1.5 mg kg(-1)). Histological brain measurements were also carried out in a subset of the same rats. Neither LI nor PPI was altered using methods that had proven sensitive in previous pharmacological studies. Treated rats' locomotion was impaired, but amphetamine did not elicit a differential enhancement. A thinner Amon's horn layer was observed in their hippocampus. This indicates that standard models of schizophrenia did not fit to the behavioral abnormalities found by others and confirmed in this study. They were not due to the abnormal maternal care to pups elicited by the treatment.

Amphetamine↗