The aim of the present work was to study the effects of neurotensin on the behavior of rats with neurotoxic lesions to the serotoninergic structures of the substantia nigra of the brain. Changes in the reproduction of conditioned passive avoidance reactions were analyzed, as were changes in the effects of pain stimulation on the activity of rats in the open field. Administration of 5,7-dihydroxytryptamine into the substantia nigra was found to impair the reproduction of passive avoidance reactions and to weaken the suppressive effects of pain stimulation. Administration of the serotonin 5-HT1A receptor antagonist p-MPPF into the substantia nigra had similar effects on the effects of pain stimulation. Administration of neurotensin into the caudate nucleus before application of pain stimulation prevented the toxin-induced impairment to defensive behavior and its effects on motor activity. Administration of neurotensin into the substantia nigra 24 h after pain stimulation had no marked effect on the passive avoidance reaction but increased motor activity during its reproduction. The effects of giving neurotoxin into the substantia nigra were linked with weakening of the action of pain stress on motor activity. Prevention of the development of this effect in rats after microinjection of neurotensin into the caudate nucleus may be due to recovery of neurotoxin-impaired reproduction of passive avoidance and can be explained by normalization of the balance of interactions between the serotoninergic (5-HT) and dopaminergic systems of the brain.
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*Deceased.
Translated from Zhurnal Vysshei Nervnoi Deyatel’nosti imeni I. P. Pavlova, Vol. 63, No. 3, pp. 384–394, May–June, 2013.
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Shugalev*, N.P., Stavrovskaya, A.V., Yamshchikova, N.G. et al. Effects of Neurotensin on the Effects of Pain Stress in Rats with Neurotoxic Lesions to Serotoninergic Structures of the Substantia Nigra of the Brain. Neurosci Behav Physi 44, 863–870 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11055-014-9994-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11055-014-9994-2