title: Anxiolytic-like effects of oleamide in group-housed and socially isolated mice.
abstract: Oleamide (cis-9,10-octadecenoamide) is an endogenous sleep-inducing lipid and prototypic member of a new class of biological signaling molecules identified in recent years. In the present study, the anxiolytic-like effect of oleamide was studied in several experimental models of anxiety in group-housed and socially isolated mice. As the results show, socially isolated mice exhibited an anxiogenic-like profile in the elevated plus-maze test, the light/dark test, and the hole-board test, which could be significantly reversed by oleamide (10 or 20 mg/kg, i.p.). Moreover, oleamide significantly reduced the anxiety levels in grouped-housed mice. In the isolation-induced aggressive test, oleamide markedly reduced the attacking duration and increased the attacking latency. It is concluded that oleamide has an anxiolytic-like effect in socially isolated or group-housed mice, which suggests that fatty acid amides might be involved in the regulation of anxiety-related behavior in mice.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology, Shenyang Pharmaceutical University, 110016 Shenyang, PR China.
authors.forename: Xiu Yan
authors.initials: XY
authors.lastname: Wei
authors.forename: Jing Yu
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Ying Xu
authors.initials: YX
authors.lastname: Dong
authors.forename: Chun Fu
authors.initials: CF
authors.lastname: Wu
mesh_terms: D000374:Aggression / Q000187:drug effects / Q000523:psychology; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D000818:Animals; D001007:Anxiety / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000209:etiology; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000187:drug effects; D003975:Diazepam / Q000627:therapeutic use; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D005106:Exploratory Behavior / Q000187:drug effects; D006993:Hypnotics and Sedatives / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D008297:Male; D018782:Maze Learning / Q000187:drug effects; D051379:Mice; D009829:Oleic Acids / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000187:drug effects; D012934:Social Isolation / Q000523:psychology*; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000209:etiology
chemical_list: D006993:Hypnotics and Sedatives; D009829:Oleic Acids; C029407:oleylamide; D003975:Diazepam