Effect of Anxiolytic Drugs on Air-Puff-Elicited Ultrasonic Vocalization in Adult Rats

Abstract

Abstract:Ultrasonic vocalization (USV) responses elicited by air-puff stimuli were compared in regard to both quality and quantity with those elicited by electric foot-shock(s) in adult rats. Frequency pattern, duration, repetition rate and interpulse interval of air-puffelicited USV were comparable to those observed on foot-shock-elicited USV. Diazepam (0.25-1.0 mg/kg, s.c.) and buspirone (0.1-1.0 mg/kg, s.c.) attenuated equally and dosedependently the USV responses elicited by both aversive stimuli. Air-puff-elicited USV was specifically attenuated in a dose-dependent manner by the anxiolytic properties of several psychotropic agents: diazepam (1.0-10.0 mg/kg, p.o.), buspirone (10.0-100.0 mg/kg, p.o.), 8-OH-DPAT (0.01-0.5 mg/kg, s.c.). Haloperidol (0.2-1.0 mg/kg, s.c.) weakly attenuated the USV response. Imipramine (0.2-1.0 mg/kg, s.c.) which has no anxiolytic property had no effect. Consequently, air-puff-elicited USV as well as foot-shock-elicited USV may provide a reliable tool for the study of anxiety.

6-Hydroxybuspirone Is a Major Active Metabolite of Buspirone: Assessment of Pharmacokinetics and 5-Hydroxytryptamine1AReceptor Occupancy in Rats

“…In both the fear-induced and air-puff-elicited ultrasonic vocalization models of anxiety in rats, buspirone has been shown to have anxiolytic effects at an oral dose of 10 mg/kg (Vis et al, 2001;Naito et al, 2003). Based on concentrations of buspirone and 6-OH-buspirone observed in the current study and in vivo EC 50 estimates presented in Table 5, maximum 5-HT 1A receptor occupancies of ϳ23% in the dorsal raphe and ϳ7% in the hippocampus occur after an oral dose of 10 mg/kg to rats.…”

Ultrasonic Vocalization Response Elicited in Adjuvant-induced Arthritic Rats as a Useful Method for Evaluating Analgesic Drugs

“…The procedure for quantitative USV analysis has been described elsewhere [11][12][13]. In brief, ultrasonic waves transduced by a condenser microphone (Kunitachi Acoustic Lab., ACM-20F) installed 10 cm above the cage were amplified and fed to an electronic device (Diamedical System, DMP-350) measuring the average frequency and average amplitude of sine waves in 5-ms time bins which were successively output to a personal computer in real-time through an A/D converter.…”

Acoustic characteristics of air puff-induced 22-kHz alarm calls in direct recordings

“…This is a reliable method of inducing 22-kHz calls, which have been suggested to reflect fear and anxiety (Knapp and Pohorecky, 1995;Naito et al, 2003;Sánchez, 2003), as well as general distress (Molewijk et al, 1995;Spencer et al, 2004), and which were, in turn, believed to be a trigger for the alarm response. However, the most recent behavioralpharmacological study, using Pavlovian conditioning to an electric shock, suggested that anxiety and not fear is the driving force behind the 22-kHz calls emitted between application of conditioning stimuli (Jelen et al, 2003).…”