Interaction between prior experience and the effects of chlorpromazine on exploration in the rat.
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Animals↗
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Results for “Exploratory Behavior”
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The interactive effects of prenatal imipramine exposure and postnatal rearing conditions on behaviour and histology.
Offspring of rats given oral doses of Saline or Imipramine (5 mg/kg) from 14-21 days prior to mating till parturition were reared, after weaning, in deprived or enriched environments. At 25-27 days and at 80-83 days the home cage behaviour of the Ss reared in the enriched environment was observed. Histological measures of brain development in both the deprived and enriched Ss were taken at the conclusion of behavioural observations. The Imipramine exposed offspring failed to show the characteristic histological changes associated with enriched rearing conditions. In addition they were behaviourally unresponsive and spent significantly less time than the Saline offspring interacting with other animals and the environment. It was argued that the physiological and behavioural unresponsiveness of the Imipramine offspring was due to a subtle teratogenic effect which prevented the Ss from interacting with the environment.
Animals↗
Exploration and learning behavior in mice selectively bred for high and low levels of activity.
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Animals↗
Open-field activity in mice as a function of ceiling height: A genotype-environment interaction.
Three inbred strains of mice, C57BL/6, DAB/2, and BALB/c, were run in the standard McClearn-type open-field with l-, 1 5/8-, and 36-inch ceiling heights. Although all strains showed increased activity as a function of lowered ceiling height, an interaction between strain and ceiling height was obtained: while BALB/c mice were the least active strain in the 36-inch-ceiling-height field, they were the most active strain in the 1-inch condition. Implications of this strain times environment interaction for the well-established low open-field activity of BALB/c and other albino strains are discussed.
Age Factors↗
Timidity and fearfulness of laboratory mice: an illustration of problems in animal temperament.
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Adaptation, Biological↗
Change in behavior with the development of long-term sensitization of a defensive reflex in the edible snail.
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Animals↗
Drug and risk perception on ninth-grade students: sex differences and similarities.
Sixty-two secondary school students were observed in their classrooms over 5 weeks of intensive drug information for within-group changes in their perceptions. "Peer pressure" and "kicks" were cited as reasons for starting and using drugs; but peer pressure had relatively greater strength for girls than for boys, and curiosity increased for girls. Boys and girls differed in reasons for stopping drugs (peer and professional help for girls, and punishment for boys). In rating the relative dangers and pleasures of marijuana and heroin, most students did not discriminate effectively between the two drugs, although ratings of marijuana dangers decreased. Unexpectedly, responses concerning the health hazards of heroin did not increase. In a situation simulating risk under peer pressure, boys chose targets as appropriate for their skill as did the girls.
Adolescent↗
Corticoadrenal and behavioral response to open field in pairs of male rats either familiar or non-familiar to each other.
The effect of the presence either of a familiar or non-familiar conspecific animal on serum corticosterone and some behavioral responses in the open field was studied in male Sprague-Dawley rats. Animals tested in presence of a familiar animal showed a higher corticosterone response and a higher defecation rate. It suggests that rats experienced more emotional reactivity in presence of a familiar animal than in presence of a non-familiar one. Time spent in social interaction was higher in non-familiar pairs; however, ambulation and rearing were lower, suggesting competition between social investigation and novel environment exploration.
Adrenal Cortex↗
Effect of diazepam on cortical 5-HT release and behaviour in the guinea-pig on exposure to the elevated plus maze.
Previous studies have used the elevated plus maze to test for "anxiolytic" drugs in rats. The present study demonstrates that guinea-pigs handled daily from birth exhibit similar behaviour to rats on the plus maze. Pretreatment with diazepam (1.0 mg/kg) significantly increased the time the animals spent in the open arms and amount of entries into the open arms. Using intra-cortical microdialysis on exposure of the guinea-pig to the elevated plus maze resulted in increased extracellular 5-HT in the frontal cortex. Diazepam reduced, but not significantly, the increase in extracellular 5-HT and produced an "anxiolytic" profile of behaviour. Pretreatment with the benzodiazepine antagonist flumazenil (10.0 mg/kg) fully antagonised the behavioural effects of diazepam. Flumazenil also reduced the effect of diazepam on the increase in extracellular 5-HT observed on exposure of the guinea-pig to the elevated plus maze. Flumazenil alone decreased basal extracellular cortical 5-HT but had no effect on behaviour in the elevated plus maze. The results show that an increase in extracellular 5-HT occurs in the guinea-pig exposed to aversive conditions. While it remains to be determined whether the "anxiolytic" effects of diazepam in the guinea-pig are causally associated with decreased extracellular 5-HT, it is of interest that the selective benzodiazepine antagonist also prevented the increase in basal extracellular 5-HT produced by the exposure to the elevated plus maze but had no effect on behaviour. Results indicate that there is no simple relationship between inhibition of 5-HT release and the "anxiolytic" action of benzodiazepines.
Animals↗
Ethological evaluation of the effects of acute and chronic buspirone treatment in the murine elevated plus-maze test: comparison with haloperidol.
Buspirone is renowned for its highly inconsistent effects in animal models of anxiety. In the present study, the effects of acute (0.63-5.0 mg/kg) and chronic (1.25-5.0 mg/kg, daily, 15 days) buspirone treatment on the behaviour of mice in the elevated plus-maze test were assessed using a recently developed ethological scoring method. On acute administration, a selective reduction in risk assessment behaviours was observed at 1.25 mg/kg; these mild anxiolytic-like effects were maintained at higher doses (2.5-5.0 mg/kg) which also reduced measures of general activity. Similar, though more potent, effects were observed with chronic administration; the lowest dose tested (1.25 mg/kg) reduced open arm entries and total stretch attend postures while higher doses profoundly reduced all major indices of anxiety (traditional and novel) and, concomitantly, suppressed total entries and rearing. Acute administration of haloperidol (0.0125-0.1 mg/kg) appeared to mimic the behavioural suppressant effects of buspirone without selectively affecting anxiety-related measures at any dose. It is suggested that the anti-anxiety and behavioural suppressant profile of buspirone may reflect combined action at 5-HT1A and D2 receptors, respectively. Results are discussed in relation to the utility of risk assessment as a sensitive index of anxiety in models based upon unconditioned behaviour.
Animals↗
Chronic exposure to noise modifies the anxiogenic response, but not the hypoactivity, detected on withdrawal from chronic ethanol treatment.
Two groups of rats received chronic ethanol treatment in quiet or noisy housing conditions. Animals from both housing conditions were then withdrawn from ethanol for 12 h prior to testing in the social interaction and elevated plus-maze tests of anxiety. Both ethanol withdrawal groups showed marked hypoactivity (decreased motor activity and decreased closed arm entries in the plus-maze), but they differed in their anxiogenic response (decreased social interaction and percentage of time spent on the open arms), with only the group treated in quiet conditions showing a significant response. A similar pattern of results was found in rats tested 18 h after withdrawal and thus it is unlikely that the anxiogenic response was simply delayed in time. It therefore seemed that chronic exposure to noise during the chronic ethanol treatment modifies dependence, but only as assessed by measures reflecting anxiety. This implies that the adaptive changes are suppressed only in the neural pathways mediating anxiety; possible mediating factors are discussed.
Animals↗
The effects of a novel analog of the C-terminal fragment of vasopressin on the behavior of white rats.
The effects of an arginine-vasopressin fragment, Ac-D-MPRG, on the movement activity and orientational-investigative activity of white rats were studied. Peptide was given intranasally at doses of 0.001, 0.01, 0.1, 1, and 10 micrograms/kg 1 h before testing. All peptide doses increased vertical movement activity in an open field test and hole board test and decreased grooming levels in both tests. The peptide had no effect on horizontal movement activity. Analysis of these results led to the conclusion that Ac-D-MPRG increases orientational-investigative activity, but, unlike arginine-vasopressin, does not affect non-motivated movement activity.
Animals↗
A multivariate discriminate analysis of behavioral measures in genetically nervous dogs.
For some years we have studied a strain of genetically nervous dogs in the Neuropsychiatric Research Laboratory, Veterans Administration Hospital, North Little Rock, Arkansas. In the manner of Pavlov and Gantt and later Scott and Fuller we have characterized these dogs in such descriptive terms as timid, human aversive, and catatonic-like. Behavioral tests have been administered on nearly all dogs in this longitudinal study, and we are using these data to try to develop statistical procedures to maximize the discriminatory power of the behavioral assay and to more accurately characterize the behavioral deficit. A multivariate discriminate analysis of 13 variables on 91 healthy and 63 nervous dogs assayed at 3 months of age shows: (1) that much of our present behavioral testing procedures is redundant, and (2) that simple "friendliness to humans" in the dog is as effective for discriminating between the two groups as any of the 13 measures, taken either singly or collectively.
Animals↗
Chronic treatment with the atypical antidepressant tianeptine attenuates sickness behavior induced by peripheral but not central lipopolysaccharide and interleukin-1beta in the rat.
RATIONALE: The hypothesis that proinflammatory cytokines play a causative role in the pathophysiology of depression has been recently tested by studying the effect of antidepressants on production of endogenous cytokines, and on sickness behavior induced by exogenous cytokines. In this last case, however, the effect of antidepressants has been only studied on the effect of peripherally administered cytokines. OBJECTIVES: The aim of the present study was to determine whether the antidepressant tianeptine can attenuate both peripheral and central cytokine actions. METHODS: Rats were injected IP with acute (10 mg/kg) or chronic (10 mg/kg, 2 times/day, 17 days) tianeptine. The effects of this treatment were assessed on the behavioral (social exploration, locomotion) and metabolic (food intake, body weight) alterations induced by peripheral or central administration of the cytokine inducer lipopolysaccharide (LPS) (250 microg/kg IP; 100 ng/rat ICV) or the prototypical proinflammatory cytokine interleukin-1 (IL-1)beta (15 microg/rat IP; 90 ng/rat ICV). RESULTS: Chronic, but not acute, treatment with tianeptine attenuated the behavioral signs of sickness behavior induced by peripheral, but not central, LPS or IL-1beta. CONCLUSIONS: This work, which is the first in vivo study assessing the effect of an antidepressant on centrally induced immune activation, shows a clear dissociation between peripheral and central cytokine effects, and suggests a peripheral site of action of tianeptine. It also provides the first evidence that the protective effects of classical antidepressants on LPS-induced sickness behavior extend to an atypical antidepressant, and that the protective effect of antidepressants also applies to IL-1beta.
Animals↗
Adolescent outcome of disruptive behaviour disorder in children who had been treated in in-patient and day-treatment settings.
Although several studies have been conducted on the longitudinal course of childhood disruptive behaviours in community samples and in general psychiatric samples, little is known about adolescent adjustment in psychiatrically treated disruptive behaviour disorder (DBD) children. We examined a sample of adolescents (n = 47) who had been treated as children in an in-patient and/or day-treatment setting because of their severely disruptive behaviour. At follow-up, we found that half of the adolescents had a DBD diagnosis, and on average higher numbers of participants ever used soft drugs, had ever been in court, were not attending school when this was mandatory, and were smoking on a daily basis, as compared to comparison groups. There was, however, a large variance among the adolescents of our sample. When outcome was defined in terms of DBD diagnosis, living status, delinquency, school attendance, and smoking behaviour, 38 % had a positive outcome and 34 % had a poor outcome. For clinical purposes, it is important to recognise that there are large individual differences in outcome.
Adolescent↗
Chronic cocaine injections attenuate behavioral response of kappa-opioid receptors to U-50,488H agonist.
Chronic injections of cocaine (20 mg/kg daily for 10 days) increase activity and decrease anxiety in male C57Bl/6j mice in comparison with animals chronically injected with normal saline. U-50,488H (kappa-opioid receptor agonist; 2.5 mg/kg) produced an anxiolytic effect in animals preinjected with normal saline and had no effect in animals chronically injected with cocaine. Presumably, chronic activation of dopaminergic systems caused by cocaine injections is paralleled by desensitization of kappa-opioid receptor system.
3,4-Dichloro-N-methyl-N-(2-(1-pyrrolidinyl)-cycloh↗
Changes in heart rate associated with contest outcome in agonistic encounters in lobsters.
Agonistic contests between lobsters housed together in a confined space progress through encounters of increasing intensity until a dominance relationship is established. Once this relationship is established, losing animals continually retreat from the advances of winners. These encounters are likely to consume much energy in both winning and losing animals. Therefore, one might expect involvement of many physiological systems before, during and after fights. Here, we report effects of agonistic encounters on cardiac frequency in winning and losing adult lobsters involved in dyadic interactions. The results show that: (i) small but significant increases in heart rate are observed upon chemical detection of a conspecific; (ii) during agonistic interactions, further increases in heart rate are seen; and (iii) ultimate winners exhibit greater increases in heart rate lasting longer periods of time compared to ultimate losers. Heart rate in winners remains elevated for at least 15 min after the contests have ended and animals have been returned to their home tanks. Reduced effects are seen in second and third pairings between familiar opponents. The sustained changes in heart rate that we observe in winning lobsters may result from hormonal modulation of cardiac function related to the change in social status brought about by contest outcome.
Aggression↗
Effects of glyprolines on stress-induced behavioral disorders in rats.
We report here studies on the antistress protective actions of three peptides of the glyproline family: Pro-Gly-Pro, Pro-Gly, and Gly-Pro. Stress (10 min forced swimming) evoked typical changes in the behavioral activity of rats in the elevated cross maze and hole board tests, providing evidence of a significant increase in anxiety and a decrease in the level of orientational-investigative activity. Prior (15 min before stress) i.p. administration of Pro-Gly-Pro and Gly-Pro at a dose of 3.7 microM/kg significantly decreased the stress-induced behavioral abnormalities. This demonstrates the possibility that peptides Pro-Gly-Pro and Gly-Pro may affect CNS structures involved in forming the body's responses to stress-inducing factors. Peptide Pro-Gly, at an equimolar dose, had no marked protective effect and only slightly decreased the stress-induced abnormalities in the behavior of rats.
Animals↗