Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: UNIPROT:P08908 (5-HT1A)
 5,574 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

The introduction of buspirone for the treatment of anxiety, together with the eventual suggestion of a mode of action involving the serotonin (5-HT)1A receptor subtype, has generated considerable research activity and renewed interest in the potential role of 5-HT in anxiety. The further identification of multiple 5-HT1 receptors, coupled with the possibility that these subtypes potentially are involved in discrete biobehavioral regulation and pathophysiological conditions, has greatly expanded the search for tools capable of probing these receptors and has raised hopes for a new generation of more specific compounds to treat other disorders associated with the 5-HT system such as depression, aggression, and sleep and eating disturbances. The involvement of 5-HT in anxiety has prompted a careful reevaluation of several traditional areas of research. This has included those methods used in the in vivo evaluation of drugs in preclinical animal test procedures used to assess potential anxiolytic activity, as well as the mechanisms associated with adaptive changes occurring during long-term drug administration. The proliferation of various procedures for studying the anxiolytic effects of 5-HT drugs has not always been accompanied by systematic behavioral and pharmacological validation. At the present time, this area of research is characterized by numerous inconsistent findings. Procedures that are objective and impartial to the behavioral effects of drugs provide distinct advantages for addressing some of these issues, as will the results from carefully controlled clinical studies. The main objective of this article is to provide an overview of the recent developments in research involving the 5-HT system and anxiety. The emphasis will be on the 5-HT1 receptor system and a review of the results in the predominant animal models used to evaluate these drugs, as well as an overview of the mechanisms currently believed to be responsible for the therapeutic activity of this class of compounds. Studies with the pigeon are reviewed, since this species appears distinctly sensitive to the anxiolytic-like effects of 5-HT1A drugs in conflict procedures. Although chronic administration of 5-HT1A drugs appears necessary for clinical anxiolytic and antidepressant activity, the most noteworthy neuropharmacological effects in animals seem to occur in 5-HT2 and, perhaps, 5-HT3 receptors which are downregulated. Studies summarizing the activity of drugs interacting with 5-HT1C/2 and 5-HT3 receptor sites are also discussed as they too may be involved in anxiety or the actions of anxiolytic drugs.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
 ...
PMID:5-HT receptors as targets for the development of novel anxiolytic drugs: models, mechanisms and future directions. 787 Sep 96

Aggressive behavior is an intrinsic behavior of most animals. A number of animal models of aggression have been used to evaluate the effectiveness of anxiolytics and antidepressants in the preclinical trials. These models interested investigators in search of the mechanism of presentation of aggression. Over the past decade, serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine, 5-HT) receptor subtypes have been identified. Various serotonergic agents have been tested, and some of them successfully reduced aggressive behavior in animal models of aggression. These include 5-HT1A receptor agonists. In the present review, after a description of various animal models of aggression is given, authors overview the role of serotonergic mechanism in the CNS and discuss its relation to aggressive behaviors.
 ...
PMID:[Animal models of aggression and serotonin receptor subtypes]. 791 39

Investigations examining the influence of 5-HT1A receptors in murine agonistic and social behavior have reported either specific or nonspecific attenuation of offensive behavior. To clarify this situation, the effects of three 5-HT1A agonists were examined on isolation-induced aggression and social behavior in male mice. 8-OH-DPAT (0.025-1.25 mg/kg) increased social behavior, rearing, and digging. Offensive behavior was reduced, without concomitant sedation. Ipsapirone (0.1-10.0 mg/kg) reduced naso-nasal behavior, whilst enhancing stretched-attend behavior, cage-exploration, and rearing. Offensive and defensive behaviors were attenuated, without reductions in activity. MDL 73005 EF (0.25-8.0 mg/kg) reduced social behaviors, cage-exploration and rearing while maintenance behavior was increased. Offensive and defensive behaviors showed attenuation. Current results corroborate previous findings with respect to 5-HT1A receptor involvement in murine agonistic behavior and anxiety. Data also connote that the behavioral specificity of 5-HT1A ligands should be interpreted in terms of response competition rather than solely concomitant sedation.
 ...
PMID:5-HT1A receptor influences on rodent social and agonistic behavior: a review and empirical study. 798 51

The neuromodulator serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine, 5-HT) has been associated with mood disorders such as depression, anxiety, and impulsive violence. To define the contribution of 5-HT receptor subtypes to behavior, mutant mice lacking the 5-HT1B receptor were generated by homologous recombination. These mice did not exhibit any obvious developmental or behavioral defects. However, the hyperlocomotor effect of the 5-HT1A/1B agonist RU24969 was absent in mutant mice, indicating that this effect is mediated by 5-HT1B receptors. Moreover, when confronted with an intruder, mutant mice attacked the intruder faster and more intensely than did wild-type mice, suggesting the participation of 5-HT1B receptors in aggressive behavior.
 ...
PMID:Enhanced aggressive behavior in mice lacking 5-HT1B receptor. 809 Dec 14

Serotonin (5-HT) reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) such as fluvoxamine are interesting compounds. Initially launched as antidepressants, they have been found to be active in various psychiatric disorders besides depression, including obsessive-compulsive disorder, panic disorder, and eating disturbances. Preliminary data suggest their efficacy in alcohol and drug abuse, aggression, and posttraumatic stress disorder as well. Along with those clinical findings, new preclinical data have emerged. For example, fluvoxamine has demonstrated activity in various models of anxiety in rodents. Its anxiolytic activity can be clearly discriminated from that of the benzodiazepines. In the DRL 72-sec paradigm, fluvoxamine exhibits a good antidepressant profile, similar to those of imipramine and flesinoxan. Studies have shown that fluvoxamine does not down-regulate beta-adrenoceptors; apparently, that property is not a conditio sine qua non for antidepressant activity. Results of studies of the mechanism of action of fluvoxamine in which drug discrimination tests were performed with rats and pigeons suggest that the fluvoxamine stimulus is not (or is only to a very limited degree) dependent on activation of 5-HT1A receptors or 5-HT1B/1D receptors, or both. Experimentation is ongoing in those animal models.
 ...
PMID:Preclinical evidence on the psychotropic profile of fluvoxamine. 837 18

To evaluate the role of somatodendritic 5-HT1A receptors in the mediation of aggressive behaviour, eltoprazine, TFMPP (1-(3-trifluoromethylphenyl)piperazine hydrochloride) and 8-OH-DPAT (8-hydroxy-2-(di-n-propylamino)tetralin) were administered locally into the dorsal raphe nucleus of rats. 8-OH-DPAT (1 and 10 micrograms) and eltoprazine (10 and 30 micrograms) reduced aggression, but concomitantly reduced social interest and increased inactivity. TFMPP (1 and 10 micrograms) did not reduce aggression. As 8-OH-DPAT and to a lesser extent eltoprazine affect 5-HT1A receptors, it is proposed that a general reduction of serotonergic neurotransmission by activation of somatodendritic serotonergic autoreceptor leads to a non-specific reduction of aggression. As TFMPP has a significantly lower affinity for 5-HT1A receptors than 8-OH-DPAT or eltoprazine, the lack of effect of TFMPP supports this view.
 ...
PMID:The effects of dorsal raphe administration of eltoprazine, TFMPP and 8-OH-DPAT on resident intruder aggression in the rat. 840 11

Inconsistencies in the effects of alcohol on aggression in rodent models suggest that this effect is mediated through some other factor that is differentially involved in the various tests. The patterning of alcohol enhancement of aggression suggests that this may be most apparent in tests in which defensiveness or anxiety act to reduce aggression. Thus, an understanding of the relationship between alcohol and aggression may also involve determination of alcohol effects on anxiety. New ethoexperimental models of anxiety in rodents involve the measurement of a range of defensive behaviors to approaching, contacting predators, or to situations associated with (absent) predators. A Fear/Defense Test Battery, measuring the former, showed little, and inconsistent, response to traditional (benzodiazepine) or nontraditional (5-HT1A agonist) anxiolytics. However, an Anxiety/Defense Test Battery, measuring the latter, produced an "anxiolytic profile" of changes seen consistently to both traditional and nontraditional anxiolytics, but not to nonanxiolytic drugs. Alcohol (0.6 and 1.2 g/kg) altered the four behaviors of the "anxiolytic profile" in a manner consistent with the effects of diazepam (2.0 and 4.0 mg/kg), indicating that it is also anxiolytic. The consistency of alcohol and diazepam effects on anxiety provide a possible mechanism for their somewhat similar effects on aggression. However, alcohol at nonsedative doses, but not diazepam, additionally enhances defensive attack. Although defensive attack is behaviorally and neurally different from offensive aggression, the two are not separated in analyses of human "aggression," suggesting that alcohol effects in the latter may also be mediated by changes in defensive attack.
 ...
PMID:Alcohol and anxiety: effects on offensive and defensive aggression. 841 Sep 68

A continuing challenge for preclinical research on anxiolytic drugs is to capture the affective dimension that characterizes anxiety and aggression, either in their adaptive forms or when they become of clinical concern. Experimental protocols for the preclinical study of anxiolytic drugs typically involve the suppression of conditioned or unconditioned social and exploratory behavior (e.g., punished drinking or social interactions) and demonstrate the reversal of this behavioral suppression by drugs acting on the benzodiazepine-GABAA complex. Less frequently, aversive events engender increases in conditioned or unconditioned behavior that are reversed by anxiolytic drugs (e.g., fear-potentiated startle). More recently, putative anxiolytics which target 5-HT receptor subtypes produced effects in these traditional protocols that often are not systematic and robust. We propose ethological studies of vocal expressions in rodents and primates during social confrontations, separation from social companions, or exposure to aversive environmental events as promising sources of information on the affective features of behavior. This approach focuses on vocal and other display behavior with clear functional validity and homology. Drugs with anxiolytic effects that act on the benzodiazepine-GABAA receptor complex and on 5-HT1A receptors systematically and potently alter specific vocalizations in rodents and primates in a pharmacologically reversible manner; the specificity of these effects on vocalizations is evident due to the effectiveness of low doses that do not compromise other physiological and behavioral processes. Antagonists at the benzodiazepine receptor reverse the effects of full agonists on vocalizations, particularly when these occur in threatening, startling and distressing contexts. With the development of antagonists at 5-HT receptor subtypes, it can be anticipated that similar receptor-specificity can be established for the effects of 5-HT anxiolytics.
 ...
PMID:Aggression, anxiety and vocalizations in animals: GABAA and 5-HT anxiolytics. 853 40

These studies demonstrate that prenatal cocaine produces differential changes in neuroendocrine responses following challenge with a 5-HT releaser versus a 5-HT1A agonist and suggest differential functional alterations in both pre- and postsynaptic components of 5-HT pathways. The attenuated neuroendocrine responses in adult male progeny following challenge with a 5-HT releaser, in the absence of reductions in 5-HT receptors, provide additional evidence in support of a presynaptic 5-HT deficit in adult male cocaine-exposed progeny. Furthermore, since prenatal cocaine produced a differential profile of alterations in 5-HT-mediated neuroendocrine responses in adult male (i.e., decreases ACTH and renin) versus prepubescent female (i.e., decreases ACTH and corticosterone) progeny following challenge with a 5-HT releaser, these data indicate that the differences could be due to gender and/or postnatal developmental ages. Gender differences in prenatal cocaine effects on postsynaptic receptor function were more clearly shown in study II, which demonstrated that at the same postnatal age, 5-HT1A-mediated neuroendocrine responses were significantly potentiated in male but not female cocaine-exposed progeny. In summary, the data presented in this chapter indicate that the biochemical and functional changes in 5-HT systems observed following prenatal exposure to cocaine are unique with respect to pre- versus postsynaptic alterations, pre- versus postpubescent developmental times, and differences between genders. A number of general conclusions can be drawn from the data presented. The presence of marked neurochemical deficits at both pre- and postpubescent timepoints, in the absence of any visually apparent physical terata, emphasizes the importance of investigating the neurochemical teratogenic potential of cocaine and other psychostimulants. Furthermore, data from these studies demonstrate the importance of investigating male and female progeny separately, as prenatal cocaine exposure may produce gender-specific alterations in some, but not all, aspects of brain neurotransmitter systems. Another important point that can be discerned from the present data is the necessity of subjecting cocaine-treated animals to challenge tests in order to reveal alterations that might not be readily apparent from measuring basal values for specific biochemical or functional parameters (e.g., basal hormone levels). In addition, the differential biochemical and functional changes in 5-HT systems, manifested at pre- versus postpubescent times, suggests that prenatal cocaine may adversely affect the normal maturational changes occurring in 5-HT systems. This may be of consequence in evaluating developmental stages in human offspring exposed to cocaine in utero. Furthermore, the ability of prenatal cocaine to alter 5-HT-mediated ACTH and renin responses in progeny suggest that offspring may exhibit alterations in their response to physiologic stimuli such as stress. Since neuroendocrine challenge tests can be performed in humans, the present data indicate the potential clinical utility of this approach to provide peripheral markers that can be used to identify changes in brain 5-HT pathways in human offspring exposed in utero to cocaine. Prenatal cocaine-induced alterations in brain 5-HT systems may be of significant clinical importance as dysfunction of 5-HT systems has been implicated in various psychiatric disorders including depression, anxiety, aggression, and drug-seeking behavior.
 ...
PMID:Prenatal cocaine produces biochemical and functional changes in brain serotonin systems in rat progeny. 859 82

Various models of rodent agonistic behavior are described, which differentiate between offensive and defensive/flight models. Particular attention is given to one male and one female paradigm for offensive aggression, i.e. resident/intruder or territorial aggression (RI) and maternal aggression (MA). After an overview of the serotonin (5-HT) system in the CNS, a description is given of the ligands available. Subsequently, the effects of various drugs affecting serotonergic transmission in the RI- and MA-paradigms are described. The 5-HT1A receptor agonists busipirone, ipsapirone, and 8-OH-DPAT decreased aggression in RI and MA, but simultaneously led to a marked decrease in social interest and activity, indicative of a nonspecific antiaggressive profile. Nonselective 5-HT1 receptor agonists, such as RU24969, eltoprazine, and TFMPP reduced aggression quite specifically, did not decrease social interest or exploration, and sometimes even increased these behaviors. In RI and MA, the behavioral effects of these drugs were roughly similar. In contrast, MA was more sensitive to treatment with the 5-HT reuptake blocker fluvoxamine, which blocked RI aggression nonspecifically at the highest dose only. DOI, a 5-HT2A/2C# receptor agonist, decreased aggressive behavior and increased inactivity, without affecting social interest and exploration in RI as well as MA. This was, however, accompanied by "wet dog shaking" characteristic of 5-HT2 receptor stimulation. The nonspecific 5-HT receptor agonist (and 5-HT2 receptor antagonist) quipazine also induced "wet dog shaking" at doses which suppressed aggression, social interest, and exploration but increased inactive behaviors (sitting and lying). The discussion delineates a specific role for 5-HT1B receptor-subtype involvement in the modulation of aggression, with the restrictions we clearly face with regard to the lack of specific serotonergic agonists and antagonists for certain receptor subtypes. By and large, male and female rats react similarly to treatment with serotonergic drugs, and this fact underlines the consistent role of 5-HT in different forms of aggression.
 ...
PMID:Serotonin receptors and animal models of aggressive behavior. 861 5


<< Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Next >>