Panic-like responses of female Wistar rats confronted by Bothrops alternatus pit vipers, or exposure to acute hypoxia: Effect of oestrous cycle

Author(s):Show less -

Ferreira-Sgobbi, Renata ^{[1, 2, 3, 4, 5]} ; Figueiredo, Rebeca Machado ^{[1, 4]} ; Frias, Alana Tercino ^[2] ; Matthiesen, Melina ^{[1, 2]} ; Batistela, Matheus Fitipaldi ^[2] ; Falconi-Sobrinho, Luiz Luciano ^{[1, 4, 5, 6]} ; Vilela-Costa, Heloisa Helena ^[2] ; Sa, Susana Isabel ^[7] ; Lovick, Thelma Anderson ^{[8, 5]} ; Zangrossi Jr, Helio ; Coimbra, Norberto Cysne ^{[1, 6, 9, 10]}

Affiliation

^[1] Univ Sao Paulo, Dept Pharmacol, Lab Neuroanat & Neuropsychobiol, Ribeirao Preto Med Sch, Ribeirao Preto - Brazil

^[2] Univ Sao Paulo, Dept Pharmacol, Lab Neuropsychopharmacol, Ribeirao Preto Med Sch, Ribeirao Preto - Brazil

^[3] Univ Sao Paulo, Ribeirao Preto Sch Philosophy Sci & Literature, Dept Psychol, Div Psychobiol, Ribeirao Preto - Brazil

^[4] Univ Sao Paulo, NAP USP Neurobiol Emot Res Ctr NuPNE, Ribeirao Preto Sch Med, Av Bandeirantes 3900, BR-14049900 Ribeirao Preto - Brazil

^[5] Behav Neurosci Inst INeC, Behav Snakes Div MEDUSA Project, Ribeirao Preto - Brazil

^[6] Univ Sao Paulo, Ophidiarium LNN FMRP USP INeC, Ribeirao Preto Sch Med, Ribeirao Preto - Brazil

^[7] Univ Porto, Dept Biomed, Unidade Anat, Fac Med, Porto - Portugal

^[8] Univ Bristol, Sch Physiol Pharmacol & Neurosci, Bristol, Avon - England

^[9] Zangrossi Jr, Jr., Helio, Univ Sao Paulo, NAP USP Neurobiol Emot Res Ctr NuPNE, Ribeirao Preto Sch Med, Av Bandeirantes 3900, BR-14049900 Ribeirao Preto - Brazil

^[10] Zangrossi Jr, Jr., Helio, Behav Neurosci Inst INeC, Behav Snakes Div MEDUSA Project, Ribeirao Preto - Brazil

• Document type: Journal article
• Source: European Journal of Neuroscience; v. 55, n. 1 DEC 2021.
• Web of Science Citations: 0

Abstract

Anxiety-related diseases are more than twice as common in women than in men, and in women, symptoms may be exacerbated during the late luteal phase of the menstrual cycle. Despite this, most research into the underlying mechanisms, which drives drug development, have been carried out using male animals. In an effort to redress this imbalance, we compared responses of male and female Wistar rats during exposure to two unconditioned threatening stimuli that evoke panic-related defensive behaviours: confrontation with a predator (Bothrops alternatus) and acute exposure to hypoxia (7% O-2). Threatened by venomous snake, male and female rats initially displayed defensive attention, risk assessment, and cautious interaction with the snake, progressing to defensive immobility to overt escape. Both males and females displayed higher levels of risk assessment but less interaction with the predator. They also spent more time in the burrow, displaying inhibitory avoidance, and more time engaged in defensive attention, and non-oriented escape behaviour. In females, anxiety-like behaviour was most pronounced in the oestrous and proestrus phases whereas panic-like behaviour was more pronounced during the dioestrus phase, particularly during late dioestrus. Acute hypoxia evoked panic-like behaviour (undirected jumping) in both sexes, but in females, responsiveness in late dioestrus was significantly greater than at other stages of the cycle. The results reveal that females respond in a qualitatively similar manner to males during exposure to naturally occurring threatening stimuli, but the responses of females is oestrous cycle dependent with a significant exacerbation of panic-like behaviour in the late dioestrus phase. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 12/03798-0 - Involvement of opioid and endocanabinoid receptors of the substantia nigra on the activity of Nigro-Tectal GABAergic pathways during defensive behaviour elicited by rodents confronted with venomous snakes
• Grantee: Norberto Cysne Coimbra
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants
• FAPESP's process: 17/11855-8 - Study of corpus striatum and ventral mesencephalon endocanabinoid influence on neostriato-nigro-tectal GABAergic pathways during panic reactions of rodents threatened by venomous snakes
• Grantee: Norberto Cysne Coimbra
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants
• FAPESP's process: 07/01174-1 - Study of the Involvement of opioid-, serotonergic- and noradrenergic-mechanisms of the pain endogenous inhibitory system in antinociceptive processes induced by oriented escape reactions evoked by chemical stimulation of the merdial hypothalamus
• Grantee: Norberto Cysne Coimbra
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants