ABSTRACT
The anxiolytic effects of the neuroactive steroid, 3 alpha-OH-5 beta-pregnan-20-one (pregnanolone), were determined after injection into the dorsal hippocampus or lateral septum in adult male rats. An increase in the proportion of time spent on the open arms of the elevated plus-maze was found after 2.5 and 5 micrograms of pregnanolone in the hippocampus, but not in the lateral septum. Intrahippocampal injection of 2.5 micrograms of the 3 beta-epimer of pregnanolone did not affect behavior in the plus-maze; a higher dose of 5 micrograms produced an anxiogenic effect. In the shock-probe burying test latency to burying behavior was increased by intrahippocampal or intraseptal injection of 2.5 and 5 micrograms of pregnanolone; the duration of burying behavior was decreased by 0.5, 2.5 and 5 micrograms of pregnanolone injection in the dorsal hippocampus or lateral septum. The number of contacts with the shock probe was not affected by any dose of pregnanolone in either intracranial site of injection. The anxiolytic effects of intrahippocampal or intraseptal injection of pregnanolone were blocked by intracranial pretreatment with 20 ng of picrotoxin, but not by microinjection of 5 micrograms of flumazenil or 200 ng of PK 11195. Thus, inhibition of the hippocampus, mediated by the pregnanolone's action at the GABAA receptor, produces a general anxiolytic effect. However, similar inhibition in the lateral septum attenuates active avoidance of anxiogenic stimuli (i.e., decreased burying behavior), but not passive avoidance of aversive stimuli (i.e., exploration of open arms of the plus-maze and number of shocks in the probe burying test).
Subject(s)
Anti-Anxiety Agents/pharmacology , Hippocampus/physiology , Pregnanolone/pharmacology , Septum of Brain/physiology , Animals , Anti-Anxiety Agents/administration & dosage , Behavior, Animal/drug effects , Chloride Channels/antagonists & inhibitors , Dose-Response Relationship, Drug , Electroshock , Flumazenil/pharmacology , GABA Modulators/pharmacology , GABA-A Receptor Antagonists , Isoquinolines/pharmacology , Male , Microinjections , Picrotoxin/pharmacology , Pregnanolone/administration & dosage , Rats , Rats, Long-Evans , Receptors, GABA-A/drug effectsABSTRACT
The effects of RU 28318, a mineralocorticoid receptor antagonist (A-MR), and RU 38486, a glucocorticoid receptor antagonist (A-GR) on behavior in three animal models of anxiety were assessed after microinjection into the dorsal hippocampus. Significant anxiolytic effects were observed after intrahippocampal injection of 0.5, and 1 ng of A-MR in thigmotaxic behavior in the open field, in the elevated plus-maze, and in the defensive burying test. Lower (0.2 ng) or higher (5 ng) doses of A-MR were ineffective, as were comparable injections of A-GR or microinjections of combined A-MR and A-GR. The anxiolytic effect of intrahippocampal A-MR administration observed in the elevated plus-maze and in the open field was not observed in adrenalectomized animals or in animals pretreated with a systemic injection of dexamethasone (80 mg/kg). Intrahippocampal injection of 1 ng of A-MR or A-GR prevented the return to basal corticosterone levels observed 90 min after restraint stress. This effect was reversed in dexamethasone-pretreated animals. The results are discussed in light of recent findings implicating the role of the MR in the hippocampus in adaptive behavioral responses to an aversive or threatening environment, and further implicate the permissive role of corticosterone in A-MR-induced behavioral responses.
