The effects of dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEA-S) on changes in the levels of anxiety induced by administration of the stress neurohormone corticoliberin were studied. A T maze was used to select Wistar rats with active and passive strategies of adaptive behavior. Testing of the active group in an elevated plus maze was used to select low- and high-anxiety individuals. Intranasal administration of corticoliberin to low-anxiety active rats resulted in decreases in total activity and increases in the level of anxiety, while high-anxiety animals had low sensitivity to this neurohormone. Prior administration of DHEA-S at a dose of 3 mg/100 g had antistress effects in low-anxiety rats and anxiolytic effects in high-anxiety rats. In passive animals, which were characterized by initially high levels of anxiety and were resistant to corticoliberin, administration of DHEA-S also had antistress actions. These results led to the conclusion that the effects of DHEA-S depended on the initial psychoemotional state and behavioral sensitivity to corticoliberin.
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Translated from Rossiiskii Fiziologicheskii Zhurnal imeni I. M. Sechenova, Vol. 96, No. 10, pp. 988–997, October, 2010.
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Semenova, O.G., Rakitskaya, V.V., Vershinina, E.A. et al. Selective Effects of Dehydroepiandrosterone Sulfate on Corticoliberin-Induced Anxiety. Neurosci Behav Physi 42, 257–263 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11055-012-9561-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11055-012-9561-7