1 The availability of large numbers of drugs in the 1960s and 1970s resulted in an explosion of psychopharmacological studies of motivated behaviour, including sexual behaviour. The effects of some drugs, particularly those affecting serotonin and dopamine, on patterns of sexual activity in males and females of a number of non-human species were impressive and encouraged the belief, held by man...

Drosophila exhibits a circadian rest-activity cycle, but it is not known whether fly rest constitutes sleep or is mere inactivity. It is shown here that, like mammalian sleep, rest in Drosophila is characterized by an increased arousal threshold and is homeostatically regulated independently of the circadian clock. As in mammals, rest is abundant in young flies, is reduced in older flies, and i...

Depression is a heterogeneous mood disorder that has been classified and treated in a variety of ways. Although a number of synthetic drugs are being used as standard treatment for clinically depressed patients, they have adverse effects that can compromise the therapeutic treatment. Thus, it is worthwhile to look for antidepressants from plants with proven advantage and favourable benefit-to-r...

Background: The functions of the monoamine neurotransmitters dopamine (DA) and serotonin (5-HT) in the etiology and treatment of depressive disorders are currently an area of intense research. Much of this research has focused on a relevant animal model of depression as a means of understanding the biological mechanisms underlying human anxiety and depression. Our studies examine whether change...

AIM To study the changes of monoamines in ventrolatoral periaqueductal gray of rat brain before and after electroacupuncture (EA) analgesia (EAA) was enhanced by fenfluramine (Fen), a 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) releaser. METHODS Monoamines were collected by in vivo microdialysis and measured by HPLC connected with electrochemical detector. RESULTS The level of norepinephrine (Nor) after EA ...

Members of the solute carrier family 6 (SLC6) sodium- and (sometimes chloride-) dependent neurotransmitter transporters [32, 2, 23, 75] are primarily plasma membrane located may be divided into four subfamilies that transport monoamines, GABA, glycine neutral amino acids, plus related bacterial NSS [109]. The members this superfamily share a structural motif 10 TM segments has been observed in ...