title: Behavioral evidence for the role of noradrenaline in the putative anxiogenic actions of the inverse benzodiazepine receptor agonist methyl-4-ethyl-6,7-dimethoxy-beta-carboline-3-carboxylate.
abstract: The role of noradrenaline in the anxiogenic action of the inverse benzodiazepine receptor agonist methyl-4-ethyl-6,7-dimethoxy-beta-carboline-3-carboxylate (DMCM) was assessed in a drug discrimination procedure using yohimbine as the stimulus cue and a conflict procedure using a conditioned behavioral suppression paradigm in rats. The yohimbine cue was antagonized by clonidine (0.03-0.5 mg/kg) and diazepam (0.1-10.0 mg/kg). DMCM (0.1-0.7 mg/kg) only partially substituted for the yohimbine stimulus cue. However, DMCM, in a smaller dose (0.1 mg/kg), significantly shifted the dose-effect curve of the yohimbine cue to the left. This potentiating effect of DMCM on the yohimbine cue was antagonized by Ro 15-1788, a benzodiazepine receptor antagonist, and by the type I benzodiazepine receptor agonist CL218,872. In the conditioned behavioral suppression paradigm, both clonidine (0.03 mg/kg) and diazepam (3 mg/kg) had an anticonflict effect by increasing responses in the conditioned fear period, whereas DMCM (0.1, 0.5 mg/kg) decreased the responses of rats in the conditioned fear period. This proconflict effect of DMCM was antagonized by muscimol (0.5 mg/kg), a type A gamma-aminobutyric acid receptor agonist, Ro 15-1788 (3 mg/kg) and clonidine (0.01 mg/kg). Our results suggest that the depressive effect of DMCM on the function of the gamma-aminobutyric acid-benzodiazepine receptor complex may cause increased noradrenergic activity, which may, in turn, be one of the anxiogenic mechanisms in DMCM.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychopharmacology and Toxicology, Institute of Pharmacology & Toxicology, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: X M
authors.initials: XM
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Z P
authors.initials: ZP
authors.lastname: Luo
authors.forename: J H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Zhou
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002243:Carbolines / Q000494:pharmacology*; D002746:Chlorpromazine / Q000494:pharmacology; D003000:Clonidine / Q000494:pharmacology; D003216:Conditioning, Operant / Q000187:drug effects*; D003292:Convulsants / Q000494:pharmacology*; D003975:Diazepam / Q000494:pharmacology; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D004357:Drug Synergism; D008297:Male; D009638:Norepinephrine / Q000502:physiology*; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains; D011963:Receptors, GABA-A / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology; D012016:Reference Values; D015016:Yohimbine / Q000494:pharmacology
chemical_list: D002243:Carbolines; D003292:Convulsants; D011963:Receptors, GABA-A; C034818:methyl 6,7-dimethoxy-4-ethyl-beta-carboline-3-carboxylate; D015016:Yohimbine; D003000:Clonidine; D003975:Diazepam; D002746:Chlorpromazine; D009638:Norepinephrine