Neurochemical characteristics of the ventromedial hypothalamus in mediating the antiaversive effects of anxiolytics in different models of anxiety

• Published in: Neuroscience and behavioral physiology 2003-03, Vol.33 (3), p.255-262
• Main Authors: Talalaenko, A N, Pankrat'ev, D V, Goncharenko, N V
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adrenergic alpha-Agonists; Adrenergic alpha-Antagonists; Adrenergic beta-Antagonists; Animals; Anti-Anxiety Agents - therapeutic use; Anticonvulsants; Anxiety - drug therapy; Anxiety - metabolism; Apomorphine - pharmacology; Avoidance Learning - drug effects; Biguanides - pharmacology; Brain Chemistry; Chlordiazepoxide - pharmacology; Clonidine - pharmacology; Disease Models, Animal; Dopamine - pharmacology; Dopamine Agonists - pharmacology; Dopamine Antagonists - pharmacology; Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; Droperidol - pharmacology; Drug Interactions; GABA Agents - pharmacology; GABA Antagonists; GABA Modulators; gamma-Aminobutyric Acid - analogs & derivatives; gamma-Aminobutyric Acid - pharmacology; Glutamic Acid - pharmacology; Male; Memantine - pharmacology; Mephenytoin - pharmacology; Microinjections - methods; Pentylenetetrazole - pharmacology; Phentolamine; Picrotoxin - pharmacology; Piperazines - pharmacology; Propranolol - pharmacology; Pyrimidines - pharmacology; Rats; Serotonin - pharmacology; Sulpiride - pharmacology; Ventromedial Hypothalamic Nucleus - chemistry; Ventromedial Hypothalamic Nucleus - metabolism; Yohimbine - pharmacology
• ISSN: 0097-0549; 1573-899X
• DOI: 10.1023/A:1022151331354

In experiments on rats using an "illuminated area" avoidance test and a "threatening situation" avoidance test, preliminary i.p. administration and subsequent microinjection into the ventromedial hypothalamus of various combinations of monoamines, transmitter amino acids, and their agonists and antagonists demonstrated differences in the functional importance of the neurochemical profile of this limbic formation in mediating anxiety states of different origins. The neurochemical analysis with local intrahypothalamic administration of anxiosedative and anxioselective substances showed that the antiaversive actions of Campirone are obtained only in conditions in which the dominant motivation is fear, while chlordiazepoxide, Phenibut, and Indoter are also active in anxiety induced by negatively stressful zoosocial influences; these actions are mediated respectively by serotoninergic and GABAergic types of synaptic switching in the ventromedial hypothalamus.