L. I. Ivanova

Substance P in central mechanisms of the food response to stimulation of the lateral hypothalamus in rabbits

Substance P (SP) is one of the first neuropeptides to be discovered and it is therefore the one which has been studied the most. However, there are only isolated publications on the effect of SP on individual behavioral responses of animals. The effect of SP has been described on grooming in mice [9], on facilitation and inhibition of passive avoidance learning in rats when injected into the brain [8, 16], and absence of changes in conditioned-reflex avoidance after injection of SP into the lateral ventricles [Ii].

Role of beta-adrenoblockers in modification of the hypothalamic feeding center by substance P

The role of peptides in the central mechanisms of motivation [5], which largely determines the goal-directed behavior of man and animals, has been demonstrated [5]. The ability of individual oligopeptides to modify temporarily the inborn properties of the hypothalamic motivation centers also have been established [4]. In particular, electrical stimulation of the lateral hypothalamus (LH), inducing feeding behavior in intact animals after injection of substance P (SP), began to induce an avoidance reaction from this center. In the investigation described below a pharmacologic analysis of the phenomenon of modification of the hypothalamic feeding center by the action of substance P by means of beta-adrenergic antagonists and ketamine was attempted.

Substance P increases resistance of the avoidance reaction to ethanol

The writers previously demonstrated the ability of substance P (SP) to partially restore the central mechanisms of defensive motivation, constituting the basis of the avoidance reaction (AR) in rabbits, when disturbed by ethanol [5]. This paper describes an attempt to discover to what extent SP can prevent the disturbance by ethanol of the central mechanisms of AR. Attention was concentrated on assessment of excitability of the ventromedial hypothalamus, and also on reticulo-hippocampo-hypothalamic interrelations during the formation of this motivational response.

Substance P and effect of ethanol on central mechanisms of avoidance in rabbits

i. Yu. V. Burov and N. N. Vedernikova, The Neurochemistry and Pharmacology of Alcoholism [in Russian], Moscow (1985). P 2. N. N. Vedernikova, S. N. Orekhov, I. P. Borisova, and Yu. V. Burov, Byull. Eksp. Biol. Med., No. 6, 675 (1987). 3. A. Clarke and S. File, Prog. Neuro-Psychopharmacol., ~, 27 (1982). 4. V. S. Fang, B. J. Tricon, A. Robertson, and H. Y. Meltzer, Life Sci., 29, 931 (1981). 5. J. A. Gray, Theoretical and Experimental Bases of the Behavior Therapies, ed. by M. P. Feldman and A. Broadhurst, London (1976). 6. R. C. Hynes and F. Murad, Pharmacological Basis of Therapeutics, ed. by A. G. Gilman et al., New York (1975), pp. 1466-1496. 7. M. D. Majewska, J. C. Bisserbe, and R. L. Eskay, Brain Res., 339, 178 (1985). 8. R. M. Sapolsky, Brain Res., 359, 300 (1985). 9. F. Y. Sze, Drug Alcohol Depend., !, 381 (1977). i0. B. Tabakoff and J. Yanai, Psychopharmacology, 64, 123 (1979).

Substance P in central mechanisms of the avoidance reaction

The contradictory results of investigations into the effect of substance P (SP) on the formation of active and passive avoidance in animals [I0, ii, 14] served to motivate the present experiments in which an attempt was made to assess the role of SP in the development of the avoidance reaction (AR) in rabbits. Most attention was paid to the effect of SP on excitability of the ventromedial hypothalamus, and also on reticulo-hippocampal-hypothalamic interrelations during the formation of defensive motivation, which forms the basis of AR, in animals.

Effect of ethanol administration on limbico-reticular relations in rabbits during motivation conditioning

This paper describes an attempt to analyze the effect of a single dose of ethanol on global electrical activity of the cerebral cortex and on the power of the principal rhythms constituting the EEG in various regions of the neocortex and to correlate them with changes induced by ethanol in hypothalamo-reticulo-hippocampal interrelations that form two different behavioral reactions in animals: goal-directed food behavior and the avoidance reaction.