Anxiety-like behavior induced by 6-OHDA animal model of Parkinson's disease may be related to a dysregulation of neurotransmitter systems in brain areas related to anxiety.

Anxiety-like behavior induced by 6-OHDA animal model of Parkinson's disease may be related to a dysregulation of neurotransmitter systems in brain areas related to anxiety. Behav Brain Res. 2019 May 26;:111981 Authors: Vieira JCF, Bassani TB, Santiago RM, de O Guaita G, Zanoveli JM, da Cunha C, Vital MABF Abstract Anxiety in Parkinson's disease may represent a physiological reaction to the development of other symptoms during disease progression. However, evidence suggests that the incidence of anxiety disorders in Parkinson's disease may be related to neurochemical changes. The present study addresses the question whether dopamine, noradrenaline and serotonin levels in brain structures related to Parkinson's disease and anxiety are responsible for anxiety-like behavior by using an animal model of parkinsonism based in the bilateral injection of the neurotoxin 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA) in the substantia nigra pars compacta. For this, one day after the injection of 6-OHDA, the animals exhibited hypolocomotion and a lower frequency of rearings in the open field test, which was spontaneously reversed on the last day of motor assessment (day 21). The 6-OHDA injection also induced anxiety-like behavior in the elevated plus maze and contextual fear conditioning test (day 21 and 24, respectively). Neurochemical analysis showed a reduction of dopamine and norepinephrine levels in the striatum, prefrontal cortex, and amygdala. In addition, w...
Source: Behavioural Brain Research - Category: Neurology Authors: Tags: Behav Brain Res Source Type: research