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Effects of the benzodiazepine inverse agonist FG7142 on the structure of anxiety-related behavior of male Wistar rats tested in hole board

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Abstract

Rationale

Little is known about the structural characteristics of the behavior of rats with enhanced anxiety level. To fill this gap, a study was undertaken where effects of an anxiogenic drug were examined on behavioral structure of rats tested in hole board.

Objectives

This study investigates effects of increased anxiety level on the structure of the behavior of rats tested in hole board

Methods

Different doses of FG7142 (1, 4, 8 mg/kg IP), a potent anxiety-inducing drug, were administered to three groups of male Wistar rats. A further group was administered saline. Experiments were recorded through a digital camera. Quantitative and multivariate approaches were applied.

Results

Percent distributions and durations showed increases of immobile sniffing, rearing, head dip, and edge sniff and a significant reduction of grooming activities and of walking. In addition, a decrease of head dip/edge sniff ratio was detected. Transition matrices evidenced that FG7142 provoked evident modifications of behavioral structure mainly of general exploration of environment and focused exploration of the hole. Finally, adjusted residuals showed a reduced effectiveness of FG7142 on transitions from head dip to edge sniff; on the contrary, transitions from edge sniff to head dip underwent evident dose-dependent changes.

Conclusions

Present study provides a useful tool to analyze behavioral responses to different anxiety conditions. Accordingly, it is demonstrated that a condition of increased anxiety deeply modifies the structure of male Wistar rat’s behavior in hole board. In addition, our results suggest that evaluation of head dip/edge sniff ratio can be considered a reliable index to appraise effects of pharmacological manipulation of anxiety and related behavioral elements.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Experimental Biomedicine and Clinical Neurosciences, Human Physiology Section “Giuseppe Pagano”, University of Palermo, Corso Tukory 129, 90134, Palermo, Italy

    Maurizio Casarrubea, Fabiana Faulisi, Massimiliano Pensabene, Claudio Mendola, Riccardo Dell’Utri, Andrea Santangelo & Giuseppe Crescimanno

  2. Department of Psychological, Pedagogical and Educational Sciences, University of Palermo, Palermo, Italy

    Massimiliano Pensabene, Claudio Mendola & Maurizio Cardaci

  3. Department of Neuroscience, Psychology, Drug Research and Child Health, Psychiatric Unit, University of Florence, Florence, Italy

    Andrea Santangelo

  4. Technologies of Knowledge Interdepartmental Center (C.I.T.C.), University of Palermo, Palermo, Italy

    Maurizio Casarrubea, Maurizio Cardaci & Giuseppe Crescimanno

Authors
  1. Maurizio Casarrubea
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  2. Fabiana Faulisi
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  3. Massimiliano Pensabene
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  4. Claudio Mendola
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  5. Riccardo Dell’Utri
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  6. Maurizio Cardaci
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  7. Andrea Santangelo
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  8. Giuseppe Crescimanno
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Giuseppe Crescimanno.

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Funding

This work was supported by a grant from the University of Palermo, Italy.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Casarrubea, M., Faulisi, F., Pensabene, M. et al. Effects of the benzodiazepine inverse agonist FG7142 on the structure of anxiety-related behavior of male Wistar rats tested in hole board. Psychopharmacology 234, 381–391 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00213-016-4474-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00213-016-4474-8

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