Effects of exogenous application of corticotropin-releasing hormone to slices of the olfactory cortex from rats with an active strategy of adaptive behavior on the water-immersion model of depression.

Experiments were performed on male Wistar rats. The specimens with an active strategy of behavior were exposed to unavoidable water-immersion stress. Surviving slices of the olfactory cortex were obtained 10 days after stress. The neurohormone had a strong inhibitory effect in 40% slices from active rats. The activity of glutamate receptors decreased, while the function of GABA receptors increased in 60% slices. Our results indicate that the depressive state of behaviorally active animals due to exposure to unavoidable stress is not necessarily mediated by the corticoliberinergic mechanisms in cortical structures.