The aversive properties of alcohol can be examined by using ethanol as a conditioning agent in a taste aversion (TA) paradigm. However, there is often variability in how organisms respond to the aversive properties of alcohol. Using a selectively bred line of TA-prone (TAP) rats, the present study sought to determine if antagonizing the GABA receptor complex with picrotoxin could block the acqu...

Introduction: Ginger has shown anti-nociceptive effects. Here we investigated the possible involvement of GABAA receptors in anti-nociceptive effect of ginger using muscimol (GABAA agonist) and picrotoxin (GABAA antagonist) in rats that received ginger. The pain sensitivity was evaluated by formalin test. Methods: Thirty-five male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into 7 groups (n=5): s...

More than half of the identified ascending interneurons originating in the terminal abdominal ganglion of the crayfish received inhibitory sensory inputs from hair afferents innervating the tailfan on the side contralateral to their main branches. Biochemical aspects of this transverse lateral inhibition of ascending interneurons were examined by the use of neurophysiological and pharmacologica...

Attentional deficits are core symptoms of schizophrenia, contributing strongly to disability. Prefrontal dysfunction has emerged as a candidate mechanism, with clinical evidence for prefrontal hypoactivation and disinhibition (reduced GABAergic inhibition), possibly reflecting different patient subpopulations. Here, we tested in rats whether imbalanced prefrontal neural activity impairs attenti...

Neurological effects of Valeriana officinalis have been recognized for many years. In this study, the anticonvulsant activity of methanolic extract of the plant were investigated in mice. Picrotoxin with doses of 6 and 12.5 mg/kg were used for induction of seizures. The effects of different doses of methanolic extract of the plant on the variation of beginning time of seizures, the incidence of...

OBJECTIVE The aim of the study to elicit effects of pure quercetin in pentylenetetrazole (PTZ) and picrotoxin induced seizures. MATERIALS AND METHODS Each animal group was divided into six groups and composed of six rats. Rats were assigned to the following experiments and groups (G): (G1) PTZ 45 mg/kg + DMSO; (G2) PTZ 45 mg/kg + 5 mg/kg quercetin; (G3) PTZ 45 mg/kg + 10 mg/kg quercetin; (G4)...

the effects of tilia plathphyllos scop. in a nervous disorder, including seizure was reported in traditional literatures. in the present investigation, the effects of methanolic extract of t. plathyphyllos on seizure induced by picrotoxin and pentylentetrazole were studied in mice. in this experimental study, groups of 5 animals pretreated with doses of 100, 200 and 300 mg/kg of methanolic extr...

Background: Estradiol and progesterone as well as hippocampal GABAA receptors are believed to play a role in the modulation of pain. The aim of present study was to investigate the effect of intrahippocampal injections of GABAA receptor agonist (muscimol) and GABAA receptor antagonist (picrotoxin) on pain sensitivity during estrous cycle. Methods: Pain sensitivity was evaluated in rats ...

Evidence from toxicological studies suggested that an ionotropic GABA receptor of novel pharmacology (picrotoxin-insensitive, bicuculline-sensitive) exists in the chick embryo retina. In this report, we provide direct morphological and electrophysiological evidence for the existence of such an iGABA receptor. Chick embryo retinas (14-16 days old) incubated in the presence of kainic acid showed ...

The acute effects of microwave exposure from the Global System for Mobile Communication (GSM) were studied in rats, using 900MHz radiation at an intensity similar to mobile phone emissions. Acute subconvulsive doses of picrotoxin were then administered to the rats and an experimental model of seizure-proneness was created from the data. Seventy-two adult male Sprague-Dawley rats underwent immun...