Effect of buspirone and mianserine on anxiety-and depression-like behaviors induced by Liang′s contextual-stress box in mice / 中国药理学与毒理学杂志

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE To investigate the effect of anxiolytics and antidepressants on anxiety-and/or depression-like behaviours induced by designing a Liang′s contextual-stress box, (Liang′s box) in mice . METHODS Liang′s box was composed of a central area and three peripheral arms. Buspirone (0.5 and 1.0 mg·kg-1) and mianserin (0.25 and 0.5 mg·kg-1) were injected to mice intraperitoneally and the following behavioral indexes were recorded ① latency to the central area(CA), ② CA-time, ③ CA-distance,④distance traveled in the peripheral area (PA-distance)⑤number of the transitions, and ⑥global activity. RESULTS ①Buspirone 0.5 and 1.0 mg · kg-1 decreased the latency to CA by as much as 71.9%(P<0.05) and 77.9%(P<0.05), but dose-dependently increased the CA-time by 59.5% and 73.8%(P<0.05) respectively. Although buspirone 0.5 and 1.0 mg · kg-1 obviously reduced the shuttle number(P<0.05), it did not have significant pharmacological effects on the CA-and PA-distance or global activity.②Mianserin 0.25 and 0.5mg·kg-1 decreased the latency to CA by as much as 72.4%(P<0.05) and 82.3%(P<0.05), but dose-dependently increased the CA-time by 39.1%and 43.9%(P<0.05), respec?tively. Mianserin enhanced the shuttle number(P<0.05) and CA-distance(P<0.05) in a dose-dependent manner, but it had no obvious pharmacological effects on the PA-distance or global activity. CONCLUSION Anxiety-and/or depression-like behaviors can be stimulated by Liang′s box in mice, which may be used as a novel animal model of anxiety and depression comorbidity to study its pathophysiological mecha?nisms, screen and evaluate certain new anxiolytics and antidepressants.