Müdüroğlu Kirmizibekmez Aynur, Mengi Murat, Yurdakoş Ertan
Department of Electroneurophysiology, Nişantaşı University, İstanbul, Turkey.
Department of Physiology, İstanbul University Cerrahpaşa School of Medicine, İstanbul, Turkey.
Noro Psikiyatr Ars. 2016 Jun;53(2):136-143. doi: 10.5152/npa.2015.9952. Epub 2016 Jun 1.
In the central nervous system, cocaine- and amphetamine-regulated transcript (CART) 55-102 peptide is localized in areas, such as the ventral tegmental area, amygdala, hypothalamus, and hippocampus, where emotional activity is regulated. Studies on the effects of the intracerebroventricular (ICV) administration of CART peptide on behavior remain limited. The findings from these studies suggest that this neuropeptide has anxiogenic-like effects. In the central nervous system, neuropeptide Y (NPY) has similar localization as CART. Previous behavioral studies have demonstrated that the ICV administration of NPY has anxiolytic-like effects.
In our study, we established five experimental groups of male Wistar rats to study the competitive effects of NPY and CART peptide. These groups were sham (n=10), CART (n=10), NPY (n=10), CART-NPY (n=10), and NPY-CART (n=10). The open field test, elevated plus maze test, and Porsolt swim test were performed for behavioral analyses. Moreover, the rats were decapitated after the behavioral tests, and the amount of these two peptide in their brains was quantified.
Our study revealed that the ICV administration of CART peptide is anxiogenic and inhibits animals undergoing learned helplessness in the Porsolt swim test. When we evaluated the results of our study with respect to NPY, we observed its anxiolytic-like effects; in the Porsolt swim test, although it reduced the duration of immobilization, it did not affect the period of struggle.
Our results revealed that during the competitive interaction of these two peptides, anxiogenic CART peptide suppressed the anxiolytic effects of NPY.
在中枢神经系统中，可卡因和苯丙胺调节转录物（CART）55 - 102肽定位于诸如腹侧被盖区、杏仁核、下丘脑和海马体等调节情绪活动的区域。关于脑室内（ICV）注射CART肽对行为影响的研究仍然有限。这些研究结果表明，这种神经肽具有类似焦虑的作用。在中枢神经系统中，神经肽Y（NPY）与CART具有相似的定位。先前的行为学研究表明，脑室内注射NPY具有类似抗焦虑的作用。
在我们的研究中，我们建立了五组雄性Wistar大鼠实验，以研究NPY和CART肽的竞争作用。这些组分别为假手术组（n = 10）、CART组（n = 10）、NPY组（n = 10）、CART - NPY组（n = 10）和NPY - CART组（n = 10）。进行旷场试验、高架十字迷宫试验和波索尔特游泳试验以进行行为分析。此外，在行为测试后将大鼠断头，并对其脑中这两种肽的含量进行定量。
我们的研究表明，脑室内注射CART肽具有致焦虑作用，并在波索尔特游泳试验中抑制动物产生习得性无助。当我们评估关于NPY的研究结果时，我们观察到其类似抗焦虑的作用；在波索尔特游泳试验中，虽然它减少了不动时间，但不影响挣扎时间。
我们的结果表明，在这两种肽的竞争性相互作用中，致焦虑的CART肽抑制了NPY的抗焦虑作用。
