A single 5 min exposure to the elevated plus-maze test of anxiety renders animals insensitive to the anxiolytic effects of the benzodiazepines in this test. The purpose of the present experiments was to explore whether this phenomenon resulted from a change in the functional state of benzodiazepine receptors in the dorsal raphe nucleus. The benzodiazepine receptor agonist midazolam (0.5, 1, and...

Behavioral characteristics of the animal models and humans are impaired in chronic stress. The present study aimed to evaluate and compare the protective effects of sertraline and curcumin on stress-induced learning and memory impairment, anxiety and anhedonia in rats. Male rats were divided into seven groups: stress+water, stress+olive oil, stress+curcumin (100 mg/kg/day), stress+sertraline (1...

   The aim of the present study was to synthesis a series of phthalimides based on our previous works and examine their anxiolytic properties. Using a three steps process, phthalimides were prepared from the corresponding di-methyl phthalate derivatives. Phthalic anhydride was nitrated to produce 3-nitrophthalic acid. Ring closer of either 3-nitrophthalic acid or di-methyl phthalate with urea w...

The present study was designed to evaluate the effect of palmatine on memory of Swiss young male albino mice. Palmatine (0.1, 0.5, 1 mg/kg, i.p.) and physostigmine (0.1 mg/kg, i.p.) per se were administered for 10 successive days to separate groups of mice. Effect of drugs on learning and memory of mice was evaluated using elevated plus maze and Morris water maze. Brain acetylcholinesterase act...

The influence of the blockade of group I metabotropic glutamate receptors (I mGluRs) by AIDA on some behavioral effects of rats pretreated with baclofen, an agonist of GABA-B receptor, was investigated using behavioral tests: the open field, the passive avoidance response and the elevated "plus" maze. Baclofen, applied intraperitoneally (ip) at a dose of 0.25 mg/kg, increased the number of cros...

Objective: The study was undertaken to compare the effect of ondansetron, granisetron and alprazolam on anxiety in rats. Materials and Methods: Elevated plus maze and Open field test were used to compare the effect of drugs on anxiety in rats. Six groups of rats were treated with 2% gum acacia orally, alprazolam 0.08mg/kg body weight of the rat orally, ondansetron (0.01mg/kg, 1mg/kg intraperito...

The influence of the blockade of group I metabotropic glutamate receptors (mGluRs) by AIDA [(RS)-1-aminoindan-1,5-dicarboxylic acid] on some behavioral effects was tested in control groups of rats and in rats that underwent short-term hypoxia. We used the following methods: the open field test, the passive avoidance test and the elevated "plus" maze test. In rats without hypoxia, AIDA (100 nmol...

OBJECTIVE To investigate whether lithium modifies open-field and elevated plus maze behavior, and brain phospho-glycogen synthase kinase 3 (P-GSK3beta) expression in Fmr1 knockout mice. METHODS One hundred and eighty FVB mice, including knockout and wild type, with an age of 30 days were used. An open-field and elevated plus maze was utilized to test behavior, while western blot was used to m...

Despite evidence that dopamine neurotransmission in the striatum is critical for learning as well as for movement control, little is yet known about how the learning-related dynamics of striatal activity are affected by dopamine depletion, a condition faced in Parkinson's disease. We made localized intrastriatal 6-hydroxydopamine lesions in rats and recorded within the dopamine-depleted sensori...