title: Study the Effect of Endocannabinoid System on Rat Behavior in Elevated Plus-Maze.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Previous studies have shown that cannabinoidergic system is involved in anxiety. However, there are controversial reports in the experimental studies. The aim of this study is to evaluate the effect of pharmacological stimulation or blocking of CB1 receptors and inhibition of endocannabinoid degradation in anxiety like behavior in elevated plus-maze (EPM) test in rat. The EPM is one of the most widely used animal models of anxiety.
  
  
  METHODS
  Male Wistar rats were randomly allocated to ten groups. Different groups of animals intraperitoneally received Win-55212 (0.3, 1 and 5 mg/kg) as CB1 receptor agonist, AM-251 (0.3, 1 and 5 mg/kg) as CB1 receptor antagonist, URB-597 (0.03, 0.1 and 0.3 mg/kg) as endocannabinoid breakdown inhibitor or saline (as control group) 30 min before submitting into EPM test.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The results showed that compared to the control group, Win-55212 (1 and 5 mg/kg) and URB-597 (0.1 and 0.3 mg/kg) significantly increased both of the time and percentage of entries into open arms. AM-251 (1 and 5 mg/kg) significantly decreased the time and percentage of entries into open arms in the EPM test. These substances have no effects on the total distance covered by animals and number of closed arm entries.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  It is concluded that activation of cannabinoid receptor exert anxiolytic effect while blocking of cannabinoid receptor resulted in anxiety behavior. The locomotor activity was not significantly changed by cannabinoid system. It is suggested that potentiation of cannabinoid system may be therapeutic strategy for the anxiety behavior.
authors.affiliation: Neurophysiology Research Center, Hamadan University of Medical Sciences, Hamadan, Iran.; Department of Physiology, School of Medicine, Hamadan University of Medical Sciences, Hamadan, Iran.
authors.forename: Alireza
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Komaki
authors.affiliation: Neurophysiology Research Center, Hamadan University of Medical Sciences, Hamadan, Iran.
authors.forename: Nasrin
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Hashemi-Firouzi
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology, School of Medicine, Hamadan University of Medical Sciences, Hamadan, Iran.
authors.forename: Shiva
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Shojaei
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology, School of Medicine, Hamadan University of Medical Sciences, Hamadan, Iran.
authors.forename: Zobin
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Souri
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology, School of Medicine, Hamadan University of Medical Sciences, Hamadan, Iran.
authors.forename: Somayeh
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Heidari
authors.affiliation: Neurophysiology Research Center, Hamadan University of Medical Sciences, Hamadan, Iran.
authors.forename: Siamak
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Shahidi
keywords: Anxiety; Cannabinoids; Rat; URB 597