ABSTRACT
The objective of the present study was to evaluate the reliability and clinical utility of a Portuguese version of the Abnormal Involuntary Movements Scale (AIMS). Videotaped interviews with 16 psychiatric inpatients treated with antipsychotic drugs for at least 5 years were evaluated. Reliability was assessed by the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) between three raters, two with and one without clinical training in psychopathology. Clinical utility was assessed by the difference between the scores of patients with (N = 11) and without (N = 5) tardive dyskinesia (TD). Patients with TD exhibited a higher severity of global evaluation by the AIMS (sum of scores: 4.2 ± 0.9 vs 0.4 ± 0.2; score on item 8: 2.3 ± 0.3 vs 0.4 ± 0.2, TD vs controls). The ICC for the global evaluation was fair between the two skilled raters (0.58-0.62) and poor between these raters and the rater without clinical experience (0.05-0.29). Thus, we concluded that the Portuguese version of the AIMS shows an acceptable inter-rater reliability, but only between clinically skilled raters, and that it is clinically useful
Subject(s)
Humans , Dyskinesia, Drug-Induced , Brazil , Case-Control Studies , Interview, Psychological , Observer Variation , Psychometrics , Reproducibility of ResultsABSTRACT
This article is a transcription of an electronic symposium sponsored by the Brazilian Society of Neuroscience and Behavior (SBNeC). Invited researchers from the European Union, North America and Brazil discussed two issues on anxiety, namely whether panic is a very intense anxiety or something else, and what aspects of clinical anxiety are reproduced by animal models. Concerning the first issue, most participants agreed that generalized anxiety and panic disorder are different on the basis of clinical manifestations, drug response and animal models. Also, underlying brain structures, neurotransmitter modulation and hormonal changes seem to involve important differences. It is also common knowledge that existing animal models generate different types of fear/anxiety. A challenge for future research is to establish a good correlation between animal models and nosological classification
Subject(s)
Humans , Anxiety , Disease Models, Animal , Panic , Anti-Anxiety Agents/pharmacology , Anxiety/drug therapy , Anxiety/physiopathology , Benzodiazepines/pharmacology , Brain/drug effects , Brain/physiopathology , Computer Communication Networks , Fear/drug effects , Panic/drug effects , Periaqueductal Gray/drug effects , Periaqueductal Gray/physiopathology , Serotonin/pharmacologyABSTRACT
The present study evaluated the correlation between the behavior of mice in the forced swimming test (FST) and in the elevated plus-maze (PM). The effect of the order of the experiments, i.e., the influence of the first test (FST or PM) on mouse behavior in the second test (PM or FST, respectively) was compared to handled animals (HAND). The execution of FST one week before the plus-maze (FST-PM, N = 10), in comparison to mice that were only handled (HAND-PM, N = 10) in week 1, decreased percent open entries (HAND-PM: 33.6 + or - 2.9; FST-PM: 20.0 + or - 3.9; mean + or - SEM; P<0.02) and percent open time (HAND-PM: 18.9 + or - 3.3; FST-PM: 9.0 = or - 1.9; P<0.03), suggesting an anxiogenic effect. No significant effect was seen in the number of closed arm entries (FST-PM: 9.5 (7.0-11.0); HAND-PM: 10.0 (4.0-14.5), median (interquartile range); U = 46.5; P>0.10). A prior test in the plus-maze (PM-FST) did not change percent immobility time in the FST when compared to the HAND-FST group (HAND-FST: 57.7 + or- 3.9; PM-FST: 65.7 + or - 3.2; mean + or - SEM; P>0.10). Since these data suggest that there is an order effect, the correlation was evaluated separately with each test sequence: FST-PM (N = 20) and PM-FST (N = 18). There was no significant correlation between percentage immobility time in the FST and plus-maze indexes (percentage time and entries in open arms) in any test sequence (r: -0.07 to 0.18). These data suggest that mouse behavior in the elevated plus-maze is not related to behavior in the forced swimming test and that a forced swimming test before the plus-maze has an anxiogenic effect even after a one-week interval
Subject(s)
Animals , Male , Mice , Anxiety/psychology , Behavior, Animal/physiology , Depression , Disease Models, Animal , Maze Learning/physiology , Physical Exertion , Exercise Test , Handling, Psychological , SwimmingABSTRACT
The present study was designed to evaluate the role of ACTH and/or CRF release and corticosteroid receptors (glucocorticoid and mineralocorticoid) in the anxiolytic effect of corticosterone (CORT). Costicosteroid receptor mediation was evaluated using a dose-response analysis of the effect of CORT and by the action of dexamethasone (DEX), which binds to glucocorticoid receptors but not to mineralocorticoid receptors. DEX administration also permits indirect evaluation of the effect of ACTH/CRF release on the anxiolytic effect of CORT. Male Wistar rats (3 months old) weighing 250-350 g were treated sc with vehicle (N = 38), CORT 1.25 (N = 18), 2.5 (N = 13) and 5.0 (N = 24) mg/kg, or DEX 5.0 (N = 19) and 10.0 (N = 17) mg/kg and tested in the elevated plus-maze 2 h later. The group that received the highest dose of CORT (5.0 mg/kg) showed a significant increase in percent open arm entries (38 +/- 2.6, mean +/- SEM) as well as in percent time spent in open arms (27 +/- 4.0) when compared with the vehicle-treated rats (24.3 +/- 2.8 and 12.4 +/- 1.9, respectively; both P < 0.05). There were no other significant differences among groups in the two parameters tested or in total arm entries. These data corroborate previous findings of the anxiolytic effect of CORT and suggest that inhibition of ACTH/CRF release and corticosteroid receptors do not play a major role in the anxiolytic effect of CORT.