title: 5-Hydroxytryptamine-interacting drugs in animal models of anxiety disorders: more than 30 years of research.
abstract: An overview of the behavioral data arising from the vast literature concerning the involvement of 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) neurotransmission in the regulation of anxiety is presented. More than 1300 experiments were carried out in this area and they provide evidence that: (1) results obtained in ethologically based animal models of anxiety with drugs stimulating 5-HT transmission are most consistent with the classic 5-HT hypothesis of anxiety in that they show an increase in animals' emotional reactivity; (2) no category of anti-anxiety models are selectively sensitive to the anxiolytic-like effects of drugs targetting 5-HT1A, 5-HT2A or 5-HT2C receptor subtypes; (3) anxiolytic-like effects of 5-HT3 receptor antagonists, in the great part, are revealed by models based on spontaneous behaviors. Taken together, these observations lead to the conclusion that different 5-HT mechanisms, mediated by different receptor subtypes, are involved in the genesis of anxiety.
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Psychophysiologie, Strasbourg, France.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Griebel
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D014151:Anti-Anxiety Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D012701:Serotonin / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D014151:Anti-Anxiety Agents; D012701:Serotonin