Differential behavioral profile induced by the injection of dipotassium chlorazepate within brain areas that project to the nucleus accumbens septi

Background: the effect of the agonism on γ-aminobutyric acid (gaba) receptors was studied within medial prefrontal cortex (mpfc),amygdala (amy) and ventral hipocampus (vh) in the plus-maze test in male rats bilaterally cannulated. these structures send glutamatergic projections to the nucleus accumbens septi (nas),in which interaction and integration between these afferent pathways has been described. in a previous study of our group,blockade of glutamatergic transmission within nas induced an anxiolytic like effect. methods: three rat groups received either saline or dipotassium chlorazepate (1 or 2 μg/1 μl solution) 15 min before testing. time spent in the open arms (tsoa),time per entry (tpe),extreme arrivals (ea),open and closed arms entries (oae,cae) and relationship between open- and closed-arms quotient (ocaq) were recorded. results: in the amy injected group tsoa,oae and eawere increased by the higher doses of dipotassium chlorazepate (p < 0.01). in the mpfc,tpe was decreased by both doses (p < 0.05). injection within ventral hippocampus (vh) decreased tsoa,oae and ocaq with lower doses (p < 0.05). when the three studied saline groups were compared,tsoa,oae,ea and ocaq were enhanced in the vh group when compared to mpfc and amy(p < 0.001). insertion of inner canula (p < 0.001,p < 0.01,p < 0.01) and saline injection showed an increasing significant difference (p < 0.001 in all cases) with the action of guide cannula alone within vh in tsoa,oae and ea. conclusion:we conclude that the injection of dipotassium chlorazepate has a differential effect depending of the brain area,leading to facilitatory and inhibitory effects on anxiety processing. copyright © 2013 by institute of pharmacology polish academy of sciences.