einstein (São Paulo). 23/nov/2023;21:eAO0302.
Perinatal N(G)-Nitro-L-arginine methyl ester administration decreases anxiety- and depression-like behaviors in adult mice
DOI: 10.31744/einstein_journal/2023AO0302
Highlights
Perinatal L-NAME treatment decreased anxiety- and depression-like behaviors in adult mice.
Perinatal L-NAME treatment did not promote changes in locomotor activity in adult mice.
Perinatal L-NAME treatment did not alter pain perception
ABSTRACT
Objective:
We hypothesized that perinatal manipulations of the nitrergic system would affect adult animal behaviors.
Methods:
We tested this hypothesis by perinatally administering N(G)-Nitro-L-arginine methyl ester (L-NAME), a non-specific antagonist of nitric oxide synthase for 15 days and assessed anxiety- and depression-like behaviors in adult mice. At 70 days of age, the mice were subjected to a battery of tests consisting of the open-field, light/dark box, forced swim, and tail-flick tests. The tests were performed at two-day intervals, and the order of the tests within the battery was determined according to the progressive invasiveness degree.
Results:
L-NAME-treated animals exhibited decreased anxiety-like behavior in the light/dark box and open field tests, with no change in locomotor activity. Additionally, they demonstrated decreased depression-like behavior in the forced swim test and no change in pain perception in the tail-flick test.
Conclusion:
The nitrergic system is possibly involved in neural circuitry development that regulates behaviors since blocking perinatal nitric oxide production decreases anxiety- and depression-like behaviors in adult mice.
Palavras-chave: Anxiety; Depression; NG-nitroarginine methyl ester; Nitric oxide; Pain perception; Mice
119
