title: Strychnine effects on ultrasound-elicited behaviours in Lister hooded rats.
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 naive animals when compared to those subjects which had received occasional strychnine and/or ultrasound treatment previously. Experiment 3 also demonstrated that strychnine treatment can cause at least modest running in subjects exposed to a 2 kHz tone (96 dB SPL). In experiment 4, exposure to the 20 kHz, 98 dB ultrasound stimulus for a much longer period, 9 min, resulted in irregular cycles of bursts of locomotion, followed immediately by periods of relative inactivity in saline-treated animals; approximately 10% of these subjects exhibited tonic-clonic convulsions. No convulsions occurred in strychnine-treated subjects during the period 10-20 min post-injection in the absence of ultrasound exposure; in contrast, the frequency of occurrence of convulsions in strychnine-treated subjects (10-20 min post-injection) exposed to the ultrasound stimulus was greater than 50%; these convulsions typically occurred at the end of a locomotor burst. The results of the present studies suggest that there may be a relationship between ultrasound-induced locomotor bursts and convulsant activity.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Queens Medical College, The University of Nottingham, UK.
authors.forename: R L
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Commissaris
authors.forename: S R
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Beckett
authors.forename: C A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Marsden
mesh_terms: D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D000818:Animals; D003292:Convulsants / Q000494:pharmacology*; D008297:Male; D009043:Motor Activity / Q000187:drug effects*; D051381:Rats; D012640:Seizures / Q000209:etiology*; D013331:Strychnine / Q000494:pharmacology*; D013997:Time Factors; D014465:Ultrasonics
chemical_list: D003292:Convulsants; D013331:Strychnine