1,721,514 research outputs found
FG 7142 specifically reduces meal size and the rate and regularity of sustained feeding in female rats: Evidence that benzodiazepine inverse agonists reduce food palatability
No full textBenzodiazepine receptor inverse agonists reduce food intake in males, but their actions in females, in whom stress-related eating disorders are more common, as well as their behavioral mode of action remain unclear. The consummatory effects of benzodiazepine receptor ligands have alternately been hypothesized to reflect changes in the hedonic evaluation of food or secondary effects of anxiety-related or cognitive properties. To test the anorectic mode of action of benzodiazepine inverse agonists, the effects of FG 7142 on feeding microstructure were studied in nondeprived female Wistar rats (n=32). Microstructure analysis used a novel meal definition that recognizes prandial drinking. On pharmacologically synchronized diestrus I, rats were pretreated (-30 min dark onset) with the benzodiazepine partial inverse agonist FG 7142 (i.p. 0, 3.75, 7.5, 15 mg/kg) in a between-subjects design. FG 7142 delayed the onset of (16-541%), decreased the amount eaten (36-52%) and drunk (63-87%), and reduced the time spent drinking (59-87%) within the first nocturnal meal. Dose-dependent incremental anorexia continued 6 h into the dark cycle, whereas FG 7142 did not suppress the quantity, duration or rate of drinking past the first meal. Treated rats ate smaller meals (17-42%) of normal duration. This reflected that FG 7142 slowed feeding within meals (9-38%) by decreasing the regularity and maintenance of feeding from pellet-to-pellet. FG 7142 did not influence postprandial satiety; meal frequency and inter-meal intervals were unaffected. FG 7142 anorexia was blocked by the benzodiazepine receptor antagonist flumazenil in a 2:1 molar ratio (n=17 rats). The very early, nonspecific (+10 min), but not subsequent (2.5, 4.5 h) feeding-specific phase, of FG 7142 anorexia was mirrored by anxiogenic-like behavior in FG 7142-treated (7.5 mg/kg) female rats (n=48) in the elevated plus-maze. Thus, benzodiazepine receptor inverse agonists preferentially lessen the maintenance of feeding in female rats, effects opposite to those of palatable food. © 2007 Nature Publishing Group All rights reserved
Opioid-dependent anticipatory negative contrast and binge-like eating in rats with limited access to highly preferred food
No full textBinge eating and an increased role for palatability in determining food intake are abnormal adaptations in feeding behavior linked to eating disorders and body weight dysregulation. The present study tested the hypothesis that rats with limited access to highly preferred food would develop analogous opioid-dependent learned adaptations in feeding behavior, with associated changes in metabolism and anxiety-like behavior. For this purpose, adolescent female Wistar rats were daily food deprived (2h) and then offered 10-min access to a feeder containing chow followed sequentially by 10-min access to a different feeder containing either chow (chow/chow; n=7) or a highly preferred, but macronutrient-comparable, sucrose-rich diet (chow/preferred; n=8). Chow/preferred-fed rats developed binge-like hyperphagia of preferred diet from the second feeder and anticipatory chow hypophagia from the first feeder with a time course suggesting associative learning. The feeding adaptations were dissociable in onset, across individuals, and in their dose-response to the opioid-receptor antagonist nalmefene, suggesting that they represent distinct palatability-motivated processes. Chow/preferred-fed rats showed increased anxiety-like behavior in relation to their propensity to binge as well as increased feed efficiency, body weight, and visceral adiposity. Chow/preferred-fed rats also had increased circulating leptin levels and decreased growth hormone and 'active' ghrelin levels. Thus, the short-term control of food intake in rats with restricted access to highly preferred foods comes to rely more on hedonic, rather than nutritional, properties of food, through associative learning mechanisms. Such rats show changes in ingestive, metabolic, endocrine, and anxiety-related measures, which resemble features of binge eating disorders or obesity
Consummatory, anxiety-related and metabolic adaptations in female rats with alternating access to preferred food
No full textAvoidance of and relapse to palatable foods is a qualitative aspect of dieting, a putative risk factor for eating disorders or obesity. The present studies tested the hypotheses that rats with alternating access to highly preferred foods would show: (1) hypophagia, a function of the relative hedonic value of the underaccepted diet, (2) increased anxiety-like behavior and psychomotor arousal when preferred diet was unavailable, (3) obesity-like changes, and (4) stable individual differences in diet-switch-induced hypophagia. Preferences among three high-carbohydrate diets were determined in female Wistar rats (n = 16). Adolescent rats (n = 162) received the following weekly diet schedules: (1) continuous regular chow (7 days/week), (2) chow (5 days/week) followed by a more preferred diet (2 days/week), or (3) chow (5 days/week) followed by a less preferred chow (2 days/week). Some animals were yoke-restricted (75% calories) when provided chow to increase its rewarding properties. Diurnal locomotor activity was measured in a familiar environment, and anxiety-like behavior was assessed in the elevated plus-maze and defensive withdrawal tests. Rats withdrawn from the preferred diet showed hypophagia, anxiogenic-like behavior, increased locomotion, and weight loss. Chow hypophagia was progressive, individuat-specific in magnitude, (partly) non-homeostatic in nature, and blunted by previous chow restriction. Despite eating less, rats cycled with the preferred diet became heavier, fatter, and diurnally less active, with greater feed efficiency and proinflammatory adipokine levels than chow controls. The present diet cycling procedure may model consummatory, anxiety-related, and metabolic effects of qualitative dieting in humans. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved
Selective reduction of alcohol drinking in Sardinian alcohol-preferring rats by a sigma-1 receptor antagonist
No full textSigma receptors have been implicated in appetitive effects of psychostimulants and in high levels of ethanol intake. This study tested the hypothesis that the sigma-1 receptor subtype (Sig-1R) may modulate ethanol intake. The effects of acute and repeated treatment with the potent, selective Sig-1R antagonist NE-100 on ethanol intake (10%) were studied in adult, male Sardinian alcohol-preferring (sP) rats, a model of genetic predisposition to high ethanol drinking. To assess the specificity of action, the acute effects of NE-100 on intake of an equally preferred sucrose solution and of a higher concentration of ethanol that sP rats did not prefer over water (28%), were determined. Finally, the ability of NE-100 administration to prevent the increased ethanol intake that occurs after deprivation was evaluated. Acute treatment with NE-100 dose-dependently (10-30 mg/kg) reduced 1- and 3-h intake of 10% ethanol solution in sP rats, while increasing concurrent water intake and not affecting food intake. NE-100 (17.8-30 mg/kg) comparably reduced intake of the 28% ethanol solution, while not suppressing 1.25% sucrose solution intake, suggesting selectivity of action against ethanol intake. Acute NE-100 (30 mg/kg) also prevented an increase in ethanol intake after a 7-day deprivation period. Repeated, daily NE-100 (30 mg/kg) treatment continued to reduce 24-h ethanol intake across 7 days of administration, with some, but incomplete, tolerance, evident by day 6. The results implicate the Sig-1R system in alcohol drinking, identifying a potential therapeutic target for the treatment of alcohol use disorders
Sigma-1 receptor knockout mice display a depressive-like phenotype
No full textActivation of sigma-1 receptors (Sig-1R) reportedly has antidepressant-like action. Limited data suggest that Sig-1Rs also modulate anxiety-related behaviors. The present experiments measured depressive-like, anxiety-like and motor behavior in Sig-1R knockout mice and their wildtype littermates. Sig-1R knockout mutants showed increased immobility in the forced swimming test, a depressive-like phenotype, but normal anxiety-like behavior in the elevated plus-maze and light/dark box tests and normal locomotor activity. The results further suggest that Sig-1Rs inversely modulate depressive-like behavior. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved
Dissociation between opioid and CRF1 antagonist sensitive drinking in Sardinian Alcohol Preferring Rats
No full textRationale The role of positive vs negative ethanol reinforcement in ethanol intake of Sardinian alcohol-preferring (sP) rats is unclear.
Objectives To test the hypothesis that spontaneous ethanol self-administration of sP rats was sensitive to the opioid receptor antagonist naltrexone, whereas withdrawal-induced, but not spontaneous, ethanol self-administration would be sensitive to corticotropin-releasing factor(1) (CRF1) antagonists, implicating differential roles for positive and negative reinforcement, respectively.
Methods Male sP rats operantly (FR1, 30 min/day) self-administered ethanol (10% v/v) until responding stabilized. One group (n=11) was made ethanol dependent through intermittent ethanol vapor exposure. Both nondependent (n=10) and dependent rats received the CRF1 antagonist LWH-63 (5, 10, and 20 mg/kg, s.c.). Separate nondependent sP rats (n=10) received the opioid antagonist naltrexone (16, 50, 150, and 450 mu g/kg, s.c.). Finally, CRF1 antagonists (MJL-1-109-2, LWH-63, and R121919) were studied for their actions on home-cage ethanol drinking in nondependent sP rats (n=6-8/group) under continuous, limited-access, or stressed conditions.
Results Naltrexone potently reduced ethanol self-administration in nondependent sP rats. LWH-63 reduced heightened ethanol self-administration of vapor-sensitive, dependent sP rats. CRF1 antagonists did not reduce ethanol intake in nondependent sP rats. R121919 (10 mg/kg, s.c.) retained antistress activity in sP rats, blunting novelty stress-induced suppression of ethanol intake.
Conclusions Spontaneous ethanol self-administration of sP rats was opioid dependent with CRF1 receptors implicated in withdrawal-induced drinking. Opioid and CRF1 receptors play different roles in ethanol reinforcement and perhaps the ethanol addiction cycle. Such distinctions may apply to subtypes of alcoholic patients who differ in their motivation to drink and ultimately treatment response
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Activation of σ-receptors induces binge-like drinking in Sardinian alcohol-preferring rats.
No full textSigma (sigma) receptors have been implicated in the behavioral and motivational effects of alcohol and psychostimulants. Sigma receptor antagonists reduce the reinforcing effects of alcohol and excessive alcohol intake in both genetic (alcohol-preferring rats) and environmental (chronic alcohol-induced) models of alcoholism. The present study tested the hypothesis that pharmacological activation of sigma-receptors facilitates ethanol reinforcement and induces excessive, binge-like ethanol intake. The effects of repeated subcutaneous treatment with the selective sigma-receptor agonist 1,3-di-(2-tolyl) guanidine (DTG; 15 mg/kg, twice a day for 7 days) on operant ethanol (10%) self-administration were studied in Sardinian alcohol-preferring (sP) rats. To confirm that the effect of DTG was mediated by sigma-receptors, the effects of pretreatment with the selective sigma-receptor antagonist BD-1063 (7 mg/kg, subcutaneously) were determined. To assess the specificity of action, the effects of DTG on the self-administration of equally reinforcing solutions of saccharin or sucrose were also determined. Finally, gene expression of opioid receptors in brain areas implicated in ethanol reinforcement was analyzed in ethanol-naive sP rats treated acutely or repeatedly with DTG, because of the well-established role of the opioid system in alcohol reinforcement and addiction. Repeatedly administered DTG progressively and dramatically increased ethanol self-administration in sP rats and increased blood alcohol levels, which reached mean values close to 100 mg% in 1 h drinking sessions. Repeated DTG treatment also increased the rats' motivation to work for alcohol under a progressive-ratio schedule of reinforcement. BD-1063 prevented the effects of DTG, confirming that sigma-receptors mediate the effects of DTG. Repeated DTG treatment also increased the self-administration of the non-drug reinforcers saccharin and sucrose. Naive sP rats repeatedly treated with DTG showed increased mRNA expression of m-and delta-opioid receptors in the ventral tegmental area. These results suggest a key facilitatory role for sigma-receptors in the reinforcing effects of alcohol and identify a potential mechanism that contributes to binge-like and excessive drinking. Neuropsychopharmacology (2011) 36, 1207-1218; doi: 10.1038/npp.2011.5; published online 23 February 201
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
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