title: Chlordiazepoxide and tonic immobility: a paradoxical enhancement.
abstract: Four experiments were conducted with chickens to examine the effects of chlordiazepoxide on tonic immobility, which has been implicated as an innate fear response. Not only did chlordiazepoxide produce a paradoxical dose-dependent increase in the duration of tonic immobility, but birds treated with chlordiazepoxide showed significantly enhanced shock-termination thresholds. Using two separate tolerance paradigms, the enhancement due to chlordiazepoxide was shown to be independent of the sedative and/or muscle relaxant effects of the drug. These findings have interesting implications for the supposed anxiolytic effects of the benzodiazepines and the relationship between fear and serotonin in avian species.
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001007:Anxiety; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000187:drug effects*; D002645:Chickens; D002707:Chlordiazepoxide / Q000494:pharmacology*; D004361:Drug Tolerance; D005239:Fear / Q000187:drug effects; D007103:Immobilization; D009126:Muscle Relaxation / Q000187:drug effects; D012890:Sleep / Q000187:drug effects
chemical_list: D002707:Chlordiazepoxide