BACKGROUND As benzodiazepines (BZDs) have anxiolytic effects, it is expected that they influence the stress system. During short-term treatment, BZD use was found to suppress cortisol levels. However, little research has been done on the effects of long-term BZD administration on the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis. METHODS The association between long-term BZD use and cortisol leve...

INTRODUCTION In this study, we investigated the role of N-Methyl-D-Aspartate (NMDA) receptors in the ventral hippocampus (VH) and their possible interactions with GABAA system on anxiety-like behaviors. METHODS We used an elevated-plus maze test (EPM) to assess anxiety-like behaviors and locomotor activity in male Wistar rats. RESULTS The results showed that intra-VH infusions of different ...

Behavioral profiles are strongly shaped by an individual's whole life experience. The accumulation of negative experiences over lifetime is thought to promote anxiety-like behavior in adulthood ("allostatic load hypothesis"). In contrast, the "mismatch hypothesis" of psychiatric disease suggests that high levels of anxiety-like behavior are the result of a discrepancy between early and late env...

People typically drink alcohol to induce euphoria or reduce anxiety, and they frequently drink in social settings, yet the effect of alcohol on human brain circuits involved in reward and emotion has been explored only sparingly. We administered alcohol intravenously to social drinkers while brain response to visual threatening and nonthreatening facial stimuli was measured using functional mag...

BACKGROUND The minimum time interval between administration of oral midazolam and separation of children from their parents that ensures good anterograde amnesia has not been previously determined. This is of particular importance in a busy operating room setting where schedule delays secondary to midazolam administration may not be tolerated. METHODS Children (n = 113) undergoing general ane...

Many different neuropharmacological agents modulate arousal and anxiety, yet to date, few endogenous substances have produced arousal with an anxiolytic effect. In this issue of Neuron, Xu et al. describe the localization and characterization of a novel neuropeptide, neuropeptide S (and its cognate receptor), that is unique in its arousing and anxiolytic-like properties.

The role of 5-hydroxytryptamine (serotonin; 5-HT)2C receptors in anxiety and the anxiolytic effects of drugs is well documented. In view of the withdrawal anxiety associated with repeated diazepam intake, the present study concerns the efficacy of 5-HT2C receptors in rats treated with diazepam. Results show that diazepam injections at a dose of 2 mg/kg daily for two weeks increased weekly food ...

Animal approach-avoidance conflict paradigms have been used extensively to characterize effects of anxiolytic agents and probe neural circuitry related to anxiety. However, there are few behavioral approaches to measure conflict in human populations, limiting the translation of findings from animal conflict tasks to human clinical research. We developed a novel approach-avoidance conflict (AAC)...

Background The opioid drug buprenorphine has been shown to modify responses to emotional stimuli and may have antidepressant properties. In preclinical studies, it shows antidepressant-like and anxiolytic-like effects, and a handful of clinical studies suggest it may reduce symptoms of depression in patients. We have shown that low doses of buprenorphine reduce responses to negative emotional s...

The anxiolytic effect of the flower of Echium. amoenum was shown in several experimental studies in mice. The present study was aimed to determine whether tolerance develops to anxiolytic action of E. amoenum in mice. NMRI male mice were injected intraperitoneal with hydroalcoholic extract (12.5, 25 and 50 mg/kg) or saline once each day (8 am) for period of 7 days and then tested on light/dark ...