Original articlesEffects of the cannabinoid CB1 receptor antagonist rimonabant in models of emotional reactivity in rodents
Section snippets
Ethics
All experimental procedures described here were approved by the Animal Care and Use Committee of Sanofi-Aventis and fully complied with French legislation on research involving animal subjects.
Animals
Male Sprague-Dawley or Wistar rats (Iffa Credo, L’Arbresle, and Charles River, Saint-Aubin-lès-Elbeuf, France) were used. They were housed in groups of four (punished drinking and elevated plus-maze) or seven (forced-swimming). Male Long Evans rats (400–500 g; Iffa Credo) were used as the threat stimulus
Punished drinking test in rats
Rimonabant [F(5,114) = 5.55, p <.001] significantly increased punished responding from .3 mg/kg and diazepam produced maximal effects at 3 mg/kg (Figure 1).
Elevated plus-maze test in rats
Rimonabant increased significantly the percentage of time spent in open arms [F(4,64) = 8.96, p <.001] and decreased the number of aborted attempts [F(4,64) = 8.86, p <.001] at 10 mg/kg (Figure 2). Diazepam significantly increased the percentage of time spent and entries made into open arms and reduced attempts at 3 mg/kg. Finally, neither
Discussion
The results of this study reveal that the potent and selective CB1 receptor antagonist rimonabant displayed a behavioral profile in rodents, which is consistent with an anxiolytic- and antidepressant-like action.
This is the first report on the behavioral action of a CB1 receptor antagonist in a traditional conflict procedure. Rimonabant produced an increase in rates of responding suppressed by punishment. It is unlikely that the positive effects of rimonabant in the punished drinking test are
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