Rat behavior in two models of anxiety and brain [3H]muscimol binding: pharmacological, correlation, and multifactor analysis

Effect of Intra-Amygdala Injection of Nicotine and GABA Receptor Agents on Anxiety-Like Behaviour in Rats

“…Moreover, our results indicate that in contrast to muscimol, the GABA A receptor antagonist bicuculline increased %OAT and %OAE, with no significant change in the locomotor activity, indicating further supports for involvement of the GABA A mechanism in the central amygdala of rats. Experiments with muscimol and bicuculline exert a selective mood influence on animal behaviour [34,36,68,69] . The role of GABA A receptors in the limbic system has been well established [34,35,37,38] .…”

“…Experiments with muscimol and bicuculline exert a selective mood influence on animal behaviour [34,36,68,69] . The role of GABA A receptors in the limbic system has been well established [34,35,37,38] . It has also been suggested that the origin of emotions is a complex phenomenon, involving the interaction between GABA and many brain structures [34] .…”

“…The role of GABA A receptors in the limbic system has been well established [34,35,37,38] . It has also been suggested that the origin of emotions is a complex phenomenon, involving the interaction between GABA and many brain structures [34] . Thus, modulation of the anxiety behaviour via the GABAergic system in the CeA seems likely.…”

“…The muscimol responses were accompanied by increases in 5-HT content of the dorsal hippocampus [10] . The GABAergic system in the hippocampus, amygdala, septal nuclei, pre-aqueductal grey matter and some hypothalamic nuclei may contribute to the organization and expression of emotions [34][35][36][37][38][39][40] . Interactions between GABA and cholinergic systems in the corpus striatum [41] , nucleus pontis oralis [42] , locus coeruleus [43] and also between septal GABAergic and hippocampal cholinergic systems in anxiety [13] have been demonstrated.…”

Autoradiographic analysis of GABAA receptor binding in the neural anxiety network of postpartum and non-postpartum laboratory rats

“…They were then preincubated twice in 50 mM Tris-HCl buffer (pH 7.4) at 4°C for 15 min each. One series of sections was then incubated in 50 mM Tris-HCl buffer containing 10 nM [ 3 H]muscimol (20–40 Ci/mmol; PerkinElmer, Waltham, MA) [32,33], and the other series was incubated in 50 mM Tris-HCl buffer containing 2 nM [ 3 H]flunitrazepam (70–87 Ci/mmol; Perkin-Elmer, Waltham, MA) [34–36], for 1 hr at 4°C. Nonspecific binding was determined by incubating slides of adjacent sections in similar solutions of [ 3 H]muscimol or [ 3 H]flunitrazepam that contained 100 μM GABA or 10 μM flunitrazepam (Sigma-Aldrich, St. Louis, MO), respectively; nonspecific binding was found to be negligible.…”