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The effects of chronic cannabis treatment on the aggressive behavior and brain 5-hydroxytryptamine levels of rats with different temperaments

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Abstract

The effects of cannabis extract on aggressive behavior and whole and regional brain 5-HT levels were studied in rats selected for differences in temperament. The results indicated that rats with a high index of defection (HI) appeared to be more susceptible to the cannabis elicited aggressive behavior than the animals with a low index of defecation (LI). The defecation score expressed by the number of boluses and the ambulation score were counted in a series of open-field experiments. After chronic treatment with cannabis the 5-HT whole brain levels remained unchanged in the non-aggressive rats of both LI and HI group whereas the 5-HT levels fell down to about 50% of normal levels in the whole brain of aggressive animals. The greatest regional reductions in 5-HT were found in the cerebral hemispheres, midbrain and hypothalamus, although 5-HT levels remained unchanged in cerebellum and medula oblongata. This paper presents evidence suggesting that temperament may be an important factor involved in the ability of cannabis to induce aggressive behavior in starved rats, and that some basic brain mechanism probably differs in HI and LI rats. This difference could be responsible for the small aggressive response observed in LI rats after chronic treatment with cannabis.

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  1. Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of SÃo Paulo, Brasil

    J. Palermo Neto & F. V. Carvalho

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  1. J. Palermo Neto
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  2. F. V. Carvalho
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Palermo Neto, J., Carvalho, F.V. The effects of chronic cannabis treatment on the aggressive behavior and brain 5-hydroxytryptamine levels of rats with different temperaments. Psychopharmacologia 32, 383–392 (1973). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00429475

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00429475

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