PMID: 9551773Apr 29, 1998Paper

Strychnine effects on ultrasound-elicited behaviours in Lister hooded rats

Psychopharmacology
R L CommissarisC A Marsden

Abstract

Previous studies have demonstrated that Lister hooded rats will exhibit characteristic bursts of locomotion when exposed to a 20-kHz acoustic stimulus; this ultrasound-induced locomotion has been suggested as a potential model for panic attacks. Although ultrasound presentation rarely induces convulsions, the locomotor bursts exhibited resemble pre-convulsant running. The present studies examined the interactions between strychnine treatment and experimenter-presented ultrasounds on behaviour in male Lister hooded rats. Strychnine was selected because it is a potent and effective convulsion-inducing agent which is not known to induce anxiety in humans. Behaviour in a circular arena (75 cm diameter) was observed live, videotaped and traced electronically. In experiments 1 and 2, moderate (60 s) or relatively brief (15 s) exposure to an ultrasound stimulus (20 kHz, 98 dB, SPL) typically resulted in 5- to 10-s bursts of locomotion in saline-treated subjects; strychnine treatment (0.5, 0.7, 1.0 mg/kg, injected i.p., 10 min prior to testing) significantly increased this ultrasound-induced locomotion in a dose-dependent manner. Experiment 3 demonstrated that the strychnine enhancement of the ultrasound response was not different in n...Continue Reading

Citations

Apr 12, 2013·Cell and Tissue Research·Markus Wöhr, Rainer K W Schwarting
Mar 14, 2000·Physiology & Behavior·R L CommissarisC A Marsden
Dec 9, 2003·Behavioural Brain Research·H M G de Paula, Katsumasa Hoshino
Dec 9, 2003·European Neuropsychopharmacology : the Journal of the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology·Manoel Jorge Nobre, Marcus Lira Brandão

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