Chronic psychological and social stress can cause psychiatric disorders in humans. In this study, we analyzed the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) cascade in the hippocampus of chronically socially defeated rats. The rats that were subjected to social defeat every day for 5 weeks showed physiological and behavioral changes, including a reduced rate of weight gain, enlarged adrenal glands...

Norepinephrine (NE) is thought to play an important role in the pathophysiology of depression, and in the mechanism of action of antidepressant compounds. Previously, we created mice that are unable to synthesize NE and epinephrine due to targeted disruption of the dopamine-beta-hydroxylase gene (Dbh). To specifically test the role of NE in mediating behavioral changes elicited by antidepressan...

BACKGROUND The previous study showed that arylpiperazine can condition affinity to α-adrenoceptors, 5-HT1A/5-HT2A receptors and compounds with arylpiperazine had antidepressant-like effect. The aim of this study was to determine the antidepressant-like activity of new arylpiperazines containing novel 8-alkoxy-purine-2,6-dione fragments. METHODS New 3-chloroarylpiperazinylalkyl analogs of 8-al...

Small laboratory animals such as mice, rats and rabbits play important roles in the news drugs development for human beings and in disease pathophysiology. Some examples include the NC mouse used as the model of atopic dermatitis, and the WISTAR rats used as the model of clinic depression in the forced swim test. However, the behaviors of small animals are usually very fast and repetitive, and ...