Region-specific alteration in brain glutamate: possible relationship to risk-taking behavior.
Risk-taking behaviors involve increased motor activity and reduced anxiety in humans. Total sleep deprivation (SD) in animals produces a similar change in motor and fear behaviors. Investigators studied region-specific brain levels of glutamate in rats after TSD, an animal model of risk-taking behavior. We investigated the effects of sleep deprivation on these behaviors and associated levels of brain glutamate. Compared to the controls, the sleep-deprived rats spent a significantly greater percentage of time in the open arms of the elevated plus maze (EPM), demonstrating reduced fear-like and increased risk-taking behaviors. Additionally, sleep deprivation was associated with a significant increase in glutamate levels in the hippocampus and thalamus. An inverse relationship between glutamate in the medial prefrontal cortex and risk taking in the EPM and a positive association between the ratio of glutamate in the hippocampus to medial prefrontal cortex and risk taking was revealed. The role of sleep deprivation-induced changes in brain glutamate and its relationship to anxiety, fear, and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is discussed.
Cortese
Bernadette M
BM
Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC 29425, USA.
Mitchell
Todd R
TR
Galloway
Matthew P
MP
Prevost
Kristen E
KE
Fang
Jidong
J
Moore
Gregory J
GJ
Uhde
Thomas W
TW
D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000502:physiology; D001921:Brain / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000378:metabolism*; D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid / Q000379:methods; D018698:Glutamic Acid / Q000378:metabolism*; D009682:Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy / Q000379:methods; D008297:Male; D018782:Maze Learning / Q000502:physiology; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D012309:Risk-Taking; D012892:Sleep Deprivation / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D013223:Statistics as Topic / Q000379:methods; D014316:Tritium
D014316:Tritium; D018698:Glutamic Acid