Journal of psychiatric research
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Nocturnal awakenings are one of the most prevalent sleep disturbances in the general population. However, little is know about how its severity affects co-morbidity with mental disorders and organic diseases. ⋯ Nocturnal awakenings disrupt the sleep of about one third of the general population. Nocturnal awakenings are associated with a wide variety of organic diseases and psychiatric disorders that warrant appropriate treatment.
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Extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) signal transduction pathway is widely implicated in multiple physiological processes. However, it remains to be determined whether ERK pathway plays roles in anxiety. Here we investigated the changes of phosphorylated ERK1/2 (pERK1/2) and c-Fos expression by immunostaining in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) of anxious rats. ⋯ Inhibition of ERK phosphorylation blocked the anxiety-induced c-Fos expression. In the animal behavioral tests, the PD98059-treated anxious rats had a significant increase in the numbers of the open-arm entries, the time spent in the open-arms and the numbers of head-dipping in EPM test, and increase the inner locomotion in the open field test compared with the anxious rats. The results suggested that the ERK signal transduction pathway might play an important role in anxiety, and inhibition of the ERK pathway in the mPFC could produce anxiolysis effect.