ABSTRACT
Muricidal and non-muricidal Wistar rats were studied regarding the changes of the body weight, the volume of the liquid intake, the sensitivity threshold to electrical shock, horizontal and vertical locomotor activity during 40-days period of 20% ethanol consumption. The transition to the situation of "choice" (water and/or ethanol) was accompanied by a division of the animals into two groups: "water preferring" and "ethanol-preferring" rats. The angiotensin-converting enzyme and enkephalin-forming carboxypeptidase H activity in different brain regions, hypophysis and peripheral tissues, were defined. The results allow one to conclude that neurochemical mechanisms underlying aggressive behavior (muricidity) and alcohol addiction have originally distinct nature.
Subject(s)
Aggression/drug effects , Alcohol Drinking/physiopathology , Brain/drug effects , Carboxypeptidases/drug effects , Neprilysin/drug effects , Peptidyl-Dipeptidase A/drug effects , Aggression/physiology , Animals , Brain/enzymology , Brain Chemistry/drug effects , Carboxypeptidase H , Carboxypeptidases/analysis , Ethanol/adverse effects , Male , Mice , Neprilysin/analysis , Peptidyl-Dipeptidase A/analysis , Rats , Rats, Wistar , Substance Withdrawal Syndrome/enzymology , Substance Withdrawal Syndrome/physiopathologyABSTRACT
Activities of enkephalin- and angiotensin II-forming enzymes (carboxypeptidase H and angiotensin-converting enzyme, ACE) were changed in different brain regions and peripheral tissues of rats with various alcohol motivation. The carboxypeptidase H activity was elevated in midbrain, striatum, hypophysis and adrenal glands, while the ACE activity was increased in hypophysis and striatum. The ACE activity was decreased two-fold in thalamo-hypothalamic region of ethanol-preferring rats.
Subject(s)
Alcohol Drinking/metabolism , Brain/enzymology , Carboxypeptidases/metabolism , Endopeptidases/metabolism , Ethanol/pharmacology , Peptidyl-Dipeptidase A/metabolism , Adrenal Glands/enzymology , Animals , Body Weight/drug effects , Carboxypeptidase H , Ethanol/administration & dosage , Male , Pain/physiopathology , Rats , Rats, Inbred Strains , Sensory Thresholds/drug effectsSubject(s)
Angiotensin II/biosynthesis , Brain/enzymology , Enkephalins/biosynthesis , Gravitation , Peptide Hydrolases/metabolism , Stress, Physiological/enzymology , Adrenal Glands/enzymology , Animals , Chronic Disease , Kidney/enzymology , Lung/enzymology , Male , Rats , Rats, Inbred Strains , Time FactorsABSTRACT
Aggressive behaviour (muricidal) induced in rats by local electrolyte lesions of septal brain area was accompanied by changes in angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) and total kinin-destroying activity (KDA) in different brain regions. In 2-month-old rats (30 days after septal operation) a decrease in ACE activity was observed in hypothalamus and striatum, while in the cerebellum the activity was increased. KDA in this group of aggressive rats was markedly increased in the pituitary body, hypothalamus and striatum. Half a year after septal lesion in spite of aggressive behaviour retention, ACE activity and KDA did not differ from their activity in nonmuricidal rats of the same age. These data show a distinct role of the peptides studied in the formation and maintenance of muricidal behaviour in rats of different age.
Subject(s)
Aggression/physiology , Aging/metabolism , Angiotensin II/metabolism , Brain/enzymology , Kinins/metabolism , Animals , Bradykinin/metabolism , Brain/surgery , Male , Mice , Peptidyl-Dipeptidase A/metabolism , Rats , Reaction Time/physiologyABSTRACT
Spontaneously muricidal rats (SMR) were selected from a group of white male rats. In the remaining animals muricide was induced by the local electrolyte damage of the brain septal area. Both muricidal models had different physiological indexes of aggressive reactions. In SMR a significant decrease in angiotensin-converting enzyme activity was detected in the midbrain and thalamus-hypothalamus areas. In the group of operated muricidal ("septal") rats alterations in angiotensin-converting enzyme activity have been revealed in none of the brain areas examined. The increase in total kinin-destroying activity in the pituitary, cerebellum, striatum and thalamus-hypothalamus areas was detected. The results indicate neurochemical specificity of brain angiotensin II and kinins in the regulation of different muricidal models.
Subject(s)
Aggression/physiology , Angiotensin II/metabolism , Bradykinin/metabolism , Brain/enzymology , Dominance, Cerebral/physiology , Limbic System/physiology , Animals , Electrolysis , Male , Mice , Peptidyl-Dipeptidase A/metabolism , RatsABSTRACT
The incorporation of [3H]thymidine into DNA and of [14C]uridine into RNA has been investigated in different areas of brain and in liver of inbred August rats, non-inbred Wistar rats and hybrids between male wild-type and female Wistar rats which were kept either under normal conditions or under intensive sensory stimulation at different age. DNA metabolism has been found to display tissue, regional, age-dependent and interlinear differences. Sensory stimulation influences considerably the synthesis of nucleic acids which is maximal at early ontogenesis stages and in the brain of hybrid animals.
