Abstract
The present studies were designed to evaluate the competitive binding properties and functional effects of a novel nonpeptide CRF1 receptor antagonist, R121919. R121919 administered in doses of 0.63 to 20 mg/kg p.o. 60 min pretest in Wistar rats dose dependently attenuated the swim stress-induced anxiogenic-like behavior in the elevated plus-maze model of anxiety. Moreover, receptor autoradiography revealed that R121919 dose-dependently occupied brain CRF1 receptors in subjects tested in the plus-maze experiment. Orally administered doses of up to 20 mg/kg R121919 also blunted basal and swim stress-induced pituitary-adrenocortical activation, produced additional anxiolytic-like behavioral actions in the defensive withdrawal and defensive burying paradigms, and functionally antagonized the locomotor stimulatory properties of exogenously administered CRF. Taken together, these results suggest that the anxiolytic-like efficacy of R121919 in attenuating the stress-, novelty-, shock-, and CRF-induced increases in behavioral arousal is correlated with competitive blockade of central CRF1 receptors.
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We thank Marge Lorang for expert technical assistance.
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Heinrichs, S., De Souza, E., Schulteis, G. et al. Brain Penetrance, Receptor Occupancy and Antistress In Vivo Efficacy of a Small Molecule Corticotropin Releasing Factor Type I Receptor Selective Antagonist. Neuropsychopharmacol 27, 194–202 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1016/S0893-133X(02)00299-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0893-133X(02)00299-3
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