RATIONALE Numerous studies indicate a role for both the serotonin 2C receptor (5-HT(2C)) and the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor in locomotion, reinforcement and motivated behaviours. Nicotine, a potent nicotinic acetylcholine receptor agonist, interacts with the dopaminergic and serotonergic systems and is known to positively affect reward-related behaviours. OBJECTIVES The current study ex...

The methanolic leaf extract of Thuja occidentalis was evaluated for possible sedative activities in mice. Sedative activity was evaluated by using hole cross, open field, thiopental sodium-induced sleeping time and elevated-plus maze (EPM) tests at 200mg/kg and 400 mg/kg.  The extract decreased the locomotor activity of mice in hole cross, open field and EPM test and showed the remarka...

objective: the present study was designed to investigate the putative antidepressant effects of crocin and crocetin, two major active ingredients of crocus sativus l. (saffron) using mice in two different regimens of acute and sub-acute administration. material and methods: in acute treatment, antidepressant-like activities of crocin and crocetin (10, 20 and 40 mg/kg, i.p.) were evaluated using...

Abstract The effects of acute sublethal doses coumaphos, an acaricide used against Varroa destructor infestation in beekeeping, on the locomotor activities four native honeybee subspecies Türkiye including two ecotypes (Carniolan - A. m. carnica , Syrian syriaca Caucasian honeybee- caucasica and Muğla Yığılca Anatolian anatoliaca ) were investigated using individual activity monitoring system. ...

Previous work has established that in vitro bath application of N-methyl-D-aspartic acid (NMDA) promotes locomotor activity in a variety of vertebrate preparations including the neonatal rat spinal cord. In addition, NMDA receptor activation gives rise to active membrane properties that are postulated to contribute to the generation or stabilization of locomotor rhythm. However, earlier studies...

In the present study, we examine the activity patterns of and synaptic inputs to Renshaw cells (RCs) during fictive locomotion in the newborn mouse using visually guided recordings from GABAergic cells expressing glutamic acid decarboxylase 67-green fluorescent protein (GFP). Among the GFP-positive neurons in the lumbar ventral horn, RCs were uniquely identified as receiving ventral root-evoked...

INTRODUCTION General neurobehavioral assays, like a modified Irwin test or a functional observational battery, are necessary for central nervous system (CNS) safety pharmacology testing near the end of the target validation (early discovery) stage of preclinical drug development. However, at earlier stages, when a greater number of test compounds must be screened for potential CNS side effects,...

Background: A number of neuroimaging studies on human addicts have revealed that abuse of Methamphetamine (METH) can induce neurodegenerative changes in various brain regions like the cerebral cortex and cerebellum. Although the underlying mechanisms of METH-induced neurotoxicity have been studied, the cellular and molecular mechanisms of METH-induced neurotoxicity remain to be clarified. Previ...

Locomotor activity measurements have been used extensively to evaluate chemically-induced changes in CNS function. This paper focuses on several factors including apparatus, age, biological rhythm, and social setting, which influence both locomotor activity levels per se and chemically induced changes in these activity levels. These data illustrate that failure to recognize, specify, and consid...

When exposed to the cold, the body temperature of the ruin lizard (Podarcis sicula), an ectothermic vertebrate, comes into equilibrium with that low environmental temperature. During this time, the behavioral output of the circadian clock, locomotor activity, disappears. We tested the activity of the circadian clockwork at low temperature (6 degrees C) by following the expression of one of its ...