Acute effect of ethanol on anxiety and 5-HT in the prefrontal cortex of rats.
The anxiolytic effect of ethanol is generally accepted to be involved in the development of alcohol dependence. Because serotonin (5-HT) is said to be involved in both anxiety and alcohol dependence, in the present study the effect of acute ethanol administration on basal 5-HT release of the medial prefrontal cortex and its effect on 5-HT release in rats submitted to an animal model of anxiety, the elevated plus maze test, were detected in two rat strains showing a different anxiety-related behavior. Ethanol had an anxiolytic-like effect and induced an increase of basal 5-HT release in the medial prefrontal cortex in the home cage in the less anxious Wistar-Harlan rats. Both effects were not seen in the more anxious Wistar-BgVV rats. The exposure to the elevated plus maze test induced an increase of extracellular 5-HT in the more anxious Wistar-BgVV rats but not in the less anxious Wistar-Harlan rats. Ethanol did not change 5-HT release during the elevated plus maze test in both rat strains. Thus, the anxiolytic-like effect of ethanol in Wistar-Harlan rats was not primarily associated with a decrease of 5-HT release in the prefrontal cortex as it is seen with other anxiolytic agents like diazepam.
Langen
Barbara
B
Institute of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Freie Universität Berlin, Koserstr. 20, 14195, Berlin, Germany. blangen@zedat.fu-berlin.de
Dietze
Silke
S
Fink
Heidrun
H
D000818:Animals; D001007:Anxiety / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism / Q000503:physiopathology; D000431:Ethanol / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D008297:Male; D018782:Maze Learning / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D017551:Microdialysis; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000378:metabolism; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D012701:Serotonin / Q000378:metabolism*; D013045:Species Specificity
D012701:Serotonin; D000431:Ethanol