[The behavioral and biochemical sequelae of the removal of the olfactory bulbs in C57Bl/6j mice].

Ablation of the olfactory bulbs in mice C57Bl/6j was accompanied by motor and orienting-exploratory activity augmentation in the "open field" test and deterioration of the learning ability to active and passive avoidance. The most expressed behavioural changes developed in four weeks after the surgery. Chronic administration of antidepressants (amitriptyline, 20 mg/kg; trazodone, 20 mg/kg; imipramine, 10 mg/kg; intraperitoneally) normalized behaviour of bulbectomized animals, trazodone being the most effective. In the biochemical studies the brainstem serotonin level was found to be decreased and the density of 5HT2-receptors in the cerebral cortex increased in bulbectomized mice. Only trazodone was able to correct the biochemical indices. The state of the bulbectomized mice is supposed to serve a model of a depression with hypo-function of serotonergic system of the brain.