Behavioural pharmacology
Adam Doble, Ian L Martin, David Nutt in Calming the Brain: Benzodiazepines and related drugs from laboratory to clinic, 2020
However, some early studies suggested that, under certain conditions, flumazenil does have some intrinsic activity (reviewed by File and Pellow, 1986). Confusingly, both anxiogenic and anxiolytic effects have been observed, as well as anticonvulsant effects. These studies were considered important in the debate about the existence of an endogenous ligand for the benzodiazepine binding site, as discussed in Chapter 1. The relevance of these studies may in fact be to point to differences in the ‘set-point’ of the receptor efficacy spectrum (Nutt et al, 1992). It is possible that environmental factors, previous drug treatment, stress, etc, may produce small shifts in the receptor set-point such that acute challenge with flumazenil might reveal partial agonist or partial inverse agonist effects. There is somewhat more experimental evidence suggesting that there might be strain (or species) differences in the set-point of the receptor (Nutt and Lister, 1988; Jackson and Nutt, 1992) that would condition the behavioural response to flumazenil and other purported antagonists.
Psychosocial Treatment of Anxiety Disorders Across the Lifespan
Stephen M. Stahl, Bret A. Moore in Anxiety Disorders: A Guide for Integrating Psychopharmacology and Psychotherapy, 2013
Social evaluation fears increase in adolescence in lockstep with the development of perspective-taking and attending to one's internal dialogue (Alfano, Beidel, & Turner, 2002; Westenberg, Gullone, Bokhorst, Heyne, & King, 2007). Socially phobic adolescents have an internal dialogue fraught with apprehension and self-doubt, e.g., “I will forget what I am supposed to say,” “Everyone will know I'm nervous,” “The whole class will laugh at me if I make a mistake.” The anxiogenic internal voice leads to increased anxiety as well as a greater likelihood of perceived or actual poor performance. As already described, it is the adolescent's very ability to identify and attend to internal dialogue that forms the cornerstone of cognitive intervention and makes it possible for them to engage in cognitive restructuring of maladaptive cognitions.
Synthesis, Enzyme Localization, and Regulation of Neurosteroids
Sheryl S. Smith in Neurosteroid Effects in the Central Nervous System, 2003
The effect of neuroactive steroid administration on rodent behavior in several of the animal models of anxiety described above is summarized in Table 15.1. Some of this information also has been recently reviewed.80 In general, neuroactive steroids that potentiate the action of GABA are very potent anxiolytic agents in a variety of behavioral animal models of anxiety. For example, 3a,5α-THP, 3α,5β-THP, alloTH-DOC, alfaxalone, and 5α-pregnane-3a,20a-diol consistently exhibit an anxiolytic Note: The effect of neuroactive steroid administration on behavior in several animal models of anxiety is summarized. An anxiolytic effect is depicted by the plus sign (+), whereas a lack of effect is depicted by the minus sign (-). The term anxiogenic refers to a drug that increased the behavioral indices of anxiety. The designation of biphasic for pregnenolone sulfate reflects an anxiolytic effect at low doses and an anxiogenic effect at higher doses.
Subchronic administration of Parastar insecticide induced behavioral changes and impaired motor coordination in male Wistar rats
Published in Drug and Chemical Toxicology, 2022
Antoine Kada Sanda, Akono Edouard Nantia, T. F. Pascal Manfo, Romi T. Toboh, Roxane Essame Abende, Sterling Adaibum, Paul Fewou Moundipa, Pierre Kamtchouing
The subchronic exposure to the medium and high doses of Parastar used in this study induced anxiety-like consequences in rats during Elevated Plus Maze test. The duration and number of entries in open arms decreased in animals exposed to Parastar. Both parameters are often used as indicators of behavior changes of anxiety origin, with their decrease interpreted as the evidence for anxiogenic-like effect of some drugs (Rocha et al. 2007). However, these findings do not corroborate the study of Terçariol and Godinho (2011) who reported an increase in the number of entries in both open and closed arms in rats acutely exposed to fipronil of the phenylpyrazole insecticide family. These discrepancies suggest difference in action mechanism of Parastar formulation and fipronil on nervous system probably related to the pesticide class difference.
Development and Preliminary Evaluation of a Brief Behavioral Sleep Intervention for Veterans to Reduce Nocturnal Vigilance
Published in Military Behavioral Health, 2021
Thomas Alan Mellman, Mary Katherine Howell, Joseph Lavela, Matthew Reinhard, Tyish Sonteem Hall Brown
Based on clinical experience, and that nocturnal vigilance can be conditioned by experiences that threaten survival, we postulated that nocturnal vigilance would not be as amenable to cognitive disputation as is applied to “overvalued beliefs about sleep” in CBT-I (Morin et al., 2006). Perceived need to maintain vigilance would further interfere with attaining a relaxed state conducive to falling asleep. In fact, the VA manual for CBT-I acknowledges that relaxation exercises could be anxiogenic for some Veterans and recommends considering protocols where relaxation may be a “side effect” (Manber et al., 2014). One consideration for diminishing the sleep disruptive impact of vigilant thoughts and behaviors is application of techniques such as mindfulness which emphasize acceptance and facilitation of the flow of thoughts. There is preliminary evidence that mindfulness training can reduce insomnia symptoms (Ong et al., 2008). Cognitive distraction with self-generated pleasant imagery has also been shown to improve sleep among participants with insomnia in an experimental paradigm (Harvey & Payne, 2002).
Understanding neurobehavioral effects of acute and chronic stress in zebrafish
Published in Stress, 2021
Konstantin A. Demin, Alexander S. Taranov, Nikita P. Ilyin, Anton M. Lakstygal, Andrey D. Volgin, Murilo S. de Abreu, Tatyana Strekalova, Allan V. Kalueff
Other differences in zebrafish stress responses heavily depend on the nature of stress stimuli. For instance, physical stressors (e.g. net chasing or pain) may cause a stronger anxiogenic response than chemical cues (e.g. exposure to alarm pheromone), and this difference can impact drug effects as well (e.g. fluoxetine blunts cortisol release in response to physical stress (Abreu et al., 2017), see Table 3 for details). Zebrafish also possess an external development with the production of hundreds of eggs, transparent embryos and fast development, which together with the availability of multiple genetic tools (Rieger, Wang, & Sagasti, 2011) may help assess the role of genetic and pharmacological modulation of stress-related states. As many outstanding questions remain open in this field (Table 4), this collectively calls for further translational neurobehavioral research utilizing zebrafish models of stress.
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