Mice performance on the staircase test following acute ethanol administration.
This study examined the effect of acute ethanol administration as compared to diazepam on the number of rearing events and the number of steps ascended in the mouse staircase test, an animal model sensitive to benzodiazepines. Acute ethanol administration, similar to acute diazepam administration, reduces rearing (at doses that do not reduce climbing) in the staircase test. This effect of acute ethanol administration is insensitive to the benzodiazepine antagonist flumazenil and is not consistently counteracted by the partial inverse agonist Ro15-4513. It seems that the mouse staircase test is an efficient paradigm for studying agents active at the gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA(A)) receptor complex, including ethanol.
Weizman
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R
Tel Aviv Community Mental Health Center, 9 Hatzvi Street, Ramat Hatayassim, 67197, Tel Aviv, Israel. rweizma@attglobal.net
Paz
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Peter
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Pick
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D000818:Animals; D001386:Azides / Q000494:pharmacology; D001569:Benzodiazepines / Q000494:pharmacology; D002492:Central Nervous System Depressants / Q000494:pharmacology*; D003975:Diazepam / Q000494:pharmacology; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D000431:Ethanol / Q000494:pharmacology*; D005442:Flumazenil / Q000494:pharmacology; D018757:GABA Modulators / Q000494:pharmacology; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008813:Mice, Inbred ICR; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000187:drug effects*; D005680:gamma-Aminobutyric Acid / Q000502:physiology
D001386:Azides; D002492:Central Nervous System Depressants; D018757:GABA Modulators; D001569:Benzodiazepines; D000431:Ethanol; D005442:Flumazenil; D005680:gamma-Aminobutyric Acid; C042957:Ro 15-4513; D003975:Diazepam