Abstract
The present study was carried out to investigate the influence of GABAA signaling on sleep-like behaviors through systemic administration of bicuculline and picrotoxin (GABAA antagonists) and thiopental (an allosterical modulator). A thiopental (20 mg/kg) injection increased the eye closure frequency compared to the control group. The birds quickly became sleepy with a low frequency of early behavioral stages, such as rapid oral movement (ROM), feather ruffling and blinking. A bicuculline administration (1 and 4 mg/kg) did not modify the frequency of feather ruffling, ROM, eye closure or blinking responses. A lower dose of picrotoxin (2 mg/kg) stimulated an active awakening status, while an intermediate dose (4 mg/kg) elicited a moderate awakening status, which was associated with an increase in the frequency of ROM, blinking and eye closure. At the higher dose (8 mg/kg), the birds exhibited thermoregulatory-like behaviors and convulsions immediately after the injection. Interestingly, picrotoxin (4 mg/kg) intensified the eye closures when given in combination with thiopental (20 mg/kg). Both barbiturate and picrotoxin-induced sleep-like responses have the same behavioral neuropharmacological properties, conceivably because they are correlated with action at an identical site on the GABAA receptor.
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Abbreviations
- ROM:
-
Rapid oral movements
- BCC:
-
Bicuculline
- PTX:
-
Picrotoxin
- THIO:
-
Thiopental
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Acknowledgments
The authors are grateful to Mr. Ipojucan P. Souza for animal care and technical assistance. This research was in part, supported by Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico (CNPq). Animal handling and experimental procedures were performed according to the Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals published by the US National Institutes of Health (NIH Publication No.85-23, revised 1996) and conforms to pertinent Brazilian legislations and was approved by the institutional animal bioethics and welfare committee. Finally we are indebted to American Journal Experts for reviewing the manuscript.
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Polo, P.A., Mecawi, A.S., Lapa, M.A.P.C. et al. Study of GABAA receptors on the sleep-like behavior in Coturnix japonica (Temminck Schlegel, 1849) (Galliformes: Aves). J Comp Physiol A 195, 247–252 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00359-008-0402-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00359-008-0402-7