Melanin-concentrating hormone (MCH) reverts the behavioral effects induced by inescapable stress.
The aim of this work was to investigate if MCH modifies the feeding and freezing responses in rats exposed to stressful stimuli. We used a basic version of contextual fear, where one group of rats were placed in a novel environment and two different groups were exposed to footshock paradigms, one of them escapable and the other one inescapable. At the end of each treatment, freezing and feeding were measured. Only the animals exposed to inescapable footshock paradigm showed significant increase in the food intake and freezing behavior in comparison to the control animals. The MCH administration (intra-hippocampal or intra-amygdaline) reverted these effects elicited by inescapable footshock. Results presented in this paper lead us to the assumption that the anxiolytic effect of the peptide is responsible for the reversion of the IS effects.
Carlini
Valeria P
VP
Departamento de Farmacología, Facultad de Ciencias Químicas, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Córdoba, Argentina.
Schiöth
Helgi B
HB
de Barioglio
Susana R
SR
D000679:Amygdala / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism; D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000187:drug effects*; D003975:Diazepam / Q000378:metabolism / Q000494:pharmacology; D004435:Eating / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism; D007028:Hypothalamic Hormones / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D008297:Male; D008543:Melanins / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D010907:Pituitary Hormones / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D013312:Stress, Physiological / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000523:psychology; D013997:Time Factors
D007028:Hypothalamic Hormones; D008543:Melanins; D010907:Pituitary Hormones; C019463:melanin-concentrating hormone; D003975:Diazepam