TY - JOUR
T1 - Anxiety-related behavior and densities of glutamate, GABAA, acetylcholine and serotonin receptors in the amygdala of seven inbred mouse strains
AU - Yilmazer-Hanke, Deniz M.
AU - Roskoden, Thomas
AU - Zilles, Karl
AU - Schwegler, Herbert
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors thank Renate Dohm and Brigitte Machus for expert technical assistance in receptor autoradiography. We also thank H.C. Pape and D. Moschcau from the Institute of Physiology and C. Kurtz from the Institute of Anatomy in Magdeburg for construction of the stainless steel footshock bars and wire mesh cages for startle measurements in mice. C. Kurtz is further acknowledged for the construction of the elevated plus maze apparatus for mice and the development of the respective custom-made software, and J. Franck for the technical assistance for elevated plus maze test. This study has been supported by the DFG, SFB 426, TP B5.
PY - 2003/10/17
Y1 - 2003/10/17
N2 - The amygdala is a brain region involved in the regulation of anxiety-related behavior. The purpose of this study was to correlate anxiety-related behavior of inbred mouse strains (BA//c, BALB/cJ, C3H/HeJ, C57BL/6J, CPB-K, DBA/2J, NMRI) to receptor binding in the amygdala. Binding site densities of receptors (NMDA, AMPA, kainate, GABAA, serotonin, muscarinergic M1-M2) were measured with quantitative receptor autoradiography using tritiated ligands. Measurements of fear-sensitized acoustic startle response (ASR; induced by footshocks), elevated plus maze (EPM) behavior and receptor binding studies showed differences between the strains except for AMPA and muscarinergic M2 receptors. Factor analysis revealed a Startle Factor with positive loadings of the density of serotonin and kainate receptors, and the amplitudes of the baseline and fear-sensitized ASRs. A second Anxiety-related Factor only correlated with the fear-sensitized ASR and anxiety parameters on the EPM but not receptor densities. There were also two General Activity Factors defined by (negative) correlations with entries to closed arms of the EPM. Because the density of NMDA and muscarinergic M1 receptors also correlated negatively with the two factors, these receptors had a positive effect on general activity. In contrast, correlations of GABAA, serotonin, and kainate receptors had the opposite sign as compared to closed arm entries. It is concluded that hereditary variations in the amygdala, particularly in kainate and serotonin receptors, play a role for the baseline and fear-sensitized ASR, whereas the general activity is influenced by many neurotransmitter receptor systems.
AB - The amygdala is a brain region involved in the regulation of anxiety-related behavior. The purpose of this study was to correlate anxiety-related behavior of inbred mouse strains (BA//c, BALB/cJ, C3H/HeJ, C57BL/6J, CPB-K, DBA/2J, NMRI) to receptor binding in the amygdala. Binding site densities of receptors (NMDA, AMPA, kainate, GABAA, serotonin, muscarinergic M1-M2) were measured with quantitative receptor autoradiography using tritiated ligands. Measurements of fear-sensitized acoustic startle response (ASR; induced by footshocks), elevated plus maze (EPM) behavior and receptor binding studies showed differences between the strains except for AMPA and muscarinergic M2 receptors. Factor analysis revealed a Startle Factor with positive loadings of the density of serotonin and kainate receptors, and the amplitudes of the baseline and fear-sensitized ASRs. A second Anxiety-related Factor only correlated with the fear-sensitized ASR and anxiety parameters on the EPM but not receptor densities. There were also two General Activity Factors defined by (negative) correlations with entries to closed arms of the EPM. Because the density of NMDA and muscarinergic M1 receptors also correlated negatively with the two factors, these receptors had a positive effect on general activity. In contrast, correlations of GABAA, serotonin, and kainate receptors had the opposite sign as compared to closed arm entries. It is concluded that hereditary variations in the amygdala, particularly in kainate and serotonin receptors, play a role for the baseline and fear-sensitized ASR, whereas the general activity is influenced by many neurotransmitter receptor systems.
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U2 - 10.1016/S0166-4328(03)00107-4
DO - 10.1016/S0166-4328(03)00107-4
M3 - Article
C2 - 14529813
AN - SCOPUS:0141645539
VL - 145
SP - 145
EP - 159
JO - Behavioural Brain Research
JF - Behavioural Brain Research
SN - 0166-4328
IS - 1-2
ER -