Pharmacology, biochemistry, and behavior
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Pharmacol. Biochem. Behav. · Oct 2013
Food deprivation increases the low-dose locomotor stimulant response to ethanol in Drosophila melanogaster.
Acute and chronic states of food deprivation result in increased sensitivity to a variety of natural reinforcers as well as to drugs of abuse. Food deprived animals show increased locomotor activity during periods of food deprivation, as well as increased locomotor stimulant responses to drugs of abuse, including cocaine, amphetamine, morphine, and ethanol, implying that drugs of abuse act in part on neural systems that underlie responses towards food. To determine whether this effect extends to an invertebrate, highly genetically tractable animal, the locomotor stimulant effects of low dose ethanol were assessed under a variety of feeding conditions in the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster. ⋯ Life-span extending dietary depletion procedures or previous periods of food deprivation did not affect the response to ethanol, indicating that only animals in an acutely food deprived state are more sensitive to the stimulant effects of ethanol. These results suggest that increased sensitivity to the stimulant effects of some drugs of abuse might reflect an evolutionarily conserved neural mechanism that underlies behavioral responses to natural reinforcers and drugs of abuse. The identification of this mechanism, and the genes that underlie its development and function, will constitute a novel approach towards the study of alcohol abuse and dependence.
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Pharmacol. Biochem. Behav. · Sep 2013
Adolescent binge-like ethanol exposure reduces basal α-MSH expression in the hypothalamus and the amygdala of adult rats.
Melanocortins (MC) are central peptides that have been implicated in the modulation of ethanol consumption. There is experimental evidence that chronic ethanol exposure reduces α-MSH expression in the limbic and hypothalamic brain regions and alters central pro-opiomelanocortin (POMC) mRNA activity in adult rats. Adolescence is a critical developmental period of high vulnerability in which ethanol exposure alters corticotropin releasing factor, neuropeptide Y, substance P and neurokinin neuropeptide activities, all of which have key roles in ethanol consumption. ⋯ Additionally, acute ethanol elicited AgRP IR in the Arc. Rats given the adolescent ethanol treatment required higher doses of ethanol than saline-treated rats to express AgRP. In light of previous evidence that endogenous MC and AgRP regulate ethanol intake through MC-receptor signaling, we speculate that the α-MSH and AgRP disturbances induced by binge-like ethanol exposure during adolescence may contribute to excessive ethanol consumption during adulthood.
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Pharmacol. Biochem. Behav. · Sep 2013
Influence of trans fat and omega-3 on the preference of psychostimulant drugs in the first generation of young rats.
The current Western diet often provides considerable amounts of saturated and trans fatty acids (TFA), whose incorporation into neuronal membranes has been implicated in changes of brain neurochemical functions. Such influence has caused concerns due to precipitation of neuropsychiatric disorders, whose data are still unclear. Here we evaluated the influence of different fats on preference parameters for amphetamine (AMPH): adolescent rats were orally supplemented with soybean oil (SO, rich in n-6 FA, which was considered an isocaloric control group), fish oil (FO, rich in n-3 FA) and hydrogenated vegetable fat (HVF, rich in saturated and trans FA) from weaning, which were born of dams supplemented with the same fat from pregnancy and lactation. ⋯ Moreover, SO and FO were not associated with AMPH preference, but only FO-supplemented rats did not show any anxiety-like symptoms or increased locomotion. FO supplementation was related to lower oxidative damages to proteins and increased CAT activity in striatum and hippocampus, as well as increased GSH levels in blood, while HVF was related to increased oxidative status. In conclusion, our study showed the harmful influence of TFA on AMPH-CPP and drug craving symptoms, which can be related to dopaminergic neurotransmission.
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Pharmacol. Biochem. Behav. · Sep 2013
Assessment of the antinociceptive effects of pregabalin alone or in combination with morphine during acetic acid-induced writhing in mice.
Visceral pain currently represents one of the most important pain treatment challenges in clinical practice, and investigators across the world are continuously designing and conducting numerous studies in search of new analgesics and new combination therapies. The current study assessed the analgesic effects of saline, pregabalin (2, 5, 17, 50, 100, and 200 mg/kg, i.p.) and morphine (0.25, 0.5, 1, 3 and 5 mg/kg) alone or in combination on acetic-acid induced abdominal contractions in mice. The number of writhes and the inhibitory effects (as percentages, %E) were calculated as antinociception indexes. ⋯ In conclusion, pregabalin can produce levels of antinociception that are similar to those of morphine in acetic acid-induced viscero-somatic pain. The enhancement of antinociception produced by the co-administration of morphine and pregabalin is termed a supra-additive interaction and occurred at low doses but not at high doses. These findings militate for increased attention and caution in clinical settings.
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Pharmacol. Biochem. Behav. · Aug 2013
Comparative StudyComparison of behavioral effects of the NMDA receptor channel blockers memantine and ketamine in rats.
Memantine and ketamine block N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptors with similar affinity and kinetics, yet their behavioral consequences differ: e.g., memantine is used to alleviate symptoms of Alzheimer's disease, whereas ketamine reproduces symptoms of schizophrenia. The two drugs exhibit different pharmacokinetics, which may play a principal role in their differential behavioral effects. To gain insight into the drugs' behavioral consequences, we treated adult male rats acutely with varying doses (0-40 mg/kg i.p.) of memantine or ketamine and assessed exploratory behavior and spatial working memory. ⋯ Surprisingly, ketamine's effects were influenced by the delay between drug administration and testing no more frequently than were memantine's. Our findings show that, regardless of test delay, memantine and ketamine evoke similar behavioral effects at lower doses, consistent with NMDA receptors being both drugs' principal site of action, but can have divergent effects at higher doses. Our results suggest that the divergence of memantine's and ketamine's behavioral consequences is likely to result from differences in mechanisms of NMDA receptor antagonism or actions at other targets.