title: Central catecholaminergic dysfunction and behavioural disorders following hypoxia in adult rats.
abstract: Wistar male rats, 3-4 months old, were made to breathe for 6 h a sub-lethal hypoxic atmosphere consisting of 8% oxygen and 92% nitrogen. Following this treatment, these rats were subjected to a series of behavioral and biochemical tests starting 30 days and ending at about 180 days after the hypoxic insult. an age-matched control group was subjected to the same series of tests. The following findings were made at the time interval indicated, relative to controls: (1) At 30-35 days, diurnal (3 h) and nocturnal (12 h) locomotor activities decreased by about 25%. (2) At 40-45 days, amphetamine in the dose range of 0.25-1 mg/kg proved less effective in eliciting an increase in motor activity and stereotypic behavior. (3) At about 50 days, apomorphine in the dose range 0.25-0.5 mg/kg caused an increase in stereotypic behavior. (4) At 60-65 days, alpha-methyl-p-tyrosine at the dose of 50 mg/kg caused a more pronounced hypoactive syndrome and a slower rate of recovery of motor activity. (5) At 75-90 days, performance in the active avoidance test was inferior to that of controls. (6) At 180 days, and one hour after a dose of 200 mg/kg alpha-methyl-p-tyrosine, the turnover rates of hippocampal norepinephrine and caudate-putamen dopamine were much below control. One may tentatively conclude that one of the effects of hypoxia in adult rats is a lesion producing long-term behavioral disorders which are partly ascribed to dopaminergic and, possibly noradrenergic, dysfunction.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Israel.
authors.forename: Z
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Speiser
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Amitzi-Zonder
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ashkenazi
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Gitter
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Cohen
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000818:Animals; D001058:Apomorphine / Q000494:pharmacology; D001362:Avoidance Learning / Q000502:physiology; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000502:physiology*; D002395:Catecholamines / Q000502:physiology*; D002421:Caudate Nucleus / Q000503:physiopathology; D003913:Dextroamphetamine / Q000494:pharmacology; D004298:Dopamine / Q000502:physiology; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000503:physiopathology; D002534:Hypoxia, Brain / Q000503:physiopathology*; D008297:Male; D011939:Mental Recall / Q000502:physiology; D008781:Methyltyrosines / Q000494:pharmacology; D009043:Motor Activity / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D011699:Putamen / Q000503:physiopathology; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains; D011950:Receptors, Cholinergic / Q000502:physiology*; D011954:Receptors, Dopamine / Q000502:physiology; D013239:Stereotyped Behavior / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D002395:Catecholamines; D008781:Methyltyrosines; D011950:Receptors, Cholinergic; D011954:Receptors, Dopamine; C022260:alpha-methyltyrosine methyl ester; D001058:Apomorphine; D003913:Dextroamphetamine; D004298:Dopamine