Psychopharmacology
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Noradrenaline interacts with stress hormones in the amygdala and hippocampus to enhance emotional memory consolidation, but the noradrenergic-glucocorticoid interaction at retrieval, where stress impairs memory, is less understood. ⋯ The genotype-dependent effects of acute stress on neural activity in amygdala and hippocampus provide evidence for noradrenergic-glucocorticoid interaction in emotional memory retrieval.
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Olfactory bulbectomy (OBX) is a widely used model for antidepressant screening and known to induce neurodegeneration in several brain areas. Our earlier studies demonstrated that etazolate produced antidepressant-like effects in behavioral despair models of depression; however, the potential role of etazolate on behavior and morphological changes in the hippocampus region along with its underlying mechanism(s) following OBX has not been adequately addressed. ⋯ The aforesaid results suggest that etazolate produces an antidepressant-like effect and neuroprotection in OBX, which is possibly mediated by modulating biochemical and neurobiological markers in the hippocampus.
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Low-efficacy mu opioid receptor agonists may be useful for some clinical indications, but clinically available low-efficacy mu agonists also have low selectivity for mu vs. kappa opioid receptors. NAQ (17-cyclopropylmethyl-3,14ß-dihydroxy-4,5α-epoxy-6α-[(3'-isoquinolyl)acetamido]morphinan) is a novel opioid receptor ligand with low-efficacy at mu receptors and greater mu-receptor selectivity than existing low-efficacy agonists. ⋯ These results agree with the in vitro characterization of NAQ as a low-efficacy mu agonist. Opioid exposure may enhance abuse-related effects of NAQ, but NAQ may also serve as a low-efficacy and relatively safe option for treatment of opioid withdrawal or dependence.