Chlordiazepoxide (CDP), one of a number of drugs in' the class Ijnown as the benzodiazepines, is known to have central muscle relaxant effects , anticonvulsant effects against electroconvulsive shock and chemical agents, depressive effects on the duration of electrical afterdischarges in the limbic system, and attenuation of fear in avoidance and conflict situations • It also has been found to have a suppressive effect on a number of aggressive behavioral responses. CDP was found to depress mouse killing in rats (Loiselle and Caparell, 1966), to have taming effects on vicious cynomolgus monkeys (Heise and Boff, 1961), to produce calming of "septal rats" (Horovitz, Furgiuele, Brannick, Burke and Craver, 1963); to reduce shock-induced fighting of mice (Stille, 1962), and to lessen fighting of previously isolated mice (Cole and Wolf, 1966). Reduction of aggressive behavior, then, would seem to be quite evident

No description available.

Two opposing effects on "behavior, a depressant effect and a disinhibitory effect, have been attributed to the "benzodiazepine tranquillizers including chlordiazepoxide. The depressant effect has "been reported to undergo tolerance with repeated doses over several days. The first experiment here was designed to determine the number of days required for tolerance at the 15 mg/kg dose. When no tolerance was found in a test of spontaneous activity, further studies were conducted to determine why no tolerance had occurred and to study conditions under which tolerance might be found.

No description available.

The purpose of this research study was to compare the treatment effects of relaxation therapy and the tranquilizing agent Chlordiazepoxide (Librium). The subjects were 37 hospitalized alcoholics who had been identified as anxious. Elevations of scales two and seven of the MMPI was used as a criterion of anxiety. Thirteen subjects were given Librium, 12 were given a placebo, 12 were given nine sessions of relaxation therapy. Although the results did not indicate significant differences among the three groups, the relaxation group showed the least amount of anxiety at post-testing. It was concluded that relaxation therapy was equal to drug therapy in effectiveness and thus more desirable due to the lack of undesirable side effects. Suggestions for further research were given.

Há relatos de que doses baixas de pentilenotetrazol (PTZ) apresentam um efeito ansiogênico em testes comportamentais que medem ansiedade. No labirinto em cruz elevado a droga reduz a porcentagem de entradas e o tempo gasto nos braços abertos. O clordiazepóxido (CDP), por outro lado, é uma droga que tem efeitos ansiolíticos, aumentando a exploração dos braços abertos do labirinto ao reduzir a aversão natural dos ratos aos braços abertos. Obtém-se um efeito similar quando o teste ocorre no escuro. Cafeína (CAF) é um composto estimulante que, aplicada em baixas doses, estimula a atividade motora no labirinto. O presente trabalho investiga o efeito de drogas gabaérgicas nas medidas de ansiedade obtidas no labirinto em cruz elevado, na presença ou ausência de luz. Ratos distribuídos aleatoriamente em 18 grupos receberam injeções de PTZ (0, 10 e 20 mg/kg), 5 min antes do teste, CDP (0,1.5 e 3 mg/kg) ou CAF (0, 10 e 30 mg/kg) 30 min antes do teste e foram colocados no labirinto em cruz elevado por 5 minutos, permitindo sua livre exploração, sob duas condições de luminosidade: claro (22 lux) ou escuro (0 lux). Os resultados mostraram que nem o PTZ nem o CDP tiveram qualquer efeito quando os animais eram testados no escuro. No claro, o PTZ diminuiu a exploração dos braços abertos, o que foi interpretado como um efeito ansiogênico, e o CDP apresentou um efeito oposto. A CAF provocou um aumento na exploração dos braços abertos somente no escuro. Esses resultados sugerem que a luminosidade deflagra as respostas responsáveis pela esquiva dos braços abertos, e as drogas simplesmente aumentam ou bloqueiam esse efeito. Da mesma forma, a falta da aversão desencadeada pela luz permitiu que a atividade locomotora aumentasse sob ação da CAF. / Pentylenetetrazol (PTZ), in low doses, was reported to have an anxiogenic effect in behavioral tests measuring anxiety. In the elevated plus-maze, it reduces the percentage of entries into and the time spent in the open arms. Chlordiazepoxide (CDP), on the other hand, is an anxiolytic drug which increases open arm exploration in the elevated plus-maze by reducing the natural aversion of rats to the open arms. A similar effect is obtained by testing rats in the dark. Caffeine (CAF) is a stimulant compound that, when administered in low doses, stimulates locomotor activity in the plus-maze. The present work investigated the effect of gabaergic drugs on anxiety levels in the presence and absence of light. Rats were randomly divided into 18 groups and either injected 5 min before testing with PTZ (0, 10, 20mg/kg) or 30 min before testing with CDP (0, 1.5, 3.0 mg/kg) or CAF (0, 10 and 30 mg/kg) and allowed to freely explore an elevated plus-maze for 5 min under two illumination conditions: light (22 lux) or dark (0 lux). Results show that neither PTZ nor CDP had any effect when the animals were tested in the dark. When tested in the light, PTZ decreased exploratory behavior in the open arms, which is usually interpreted as an anxiogenic effect, while CDP had the opposite effect. CAF provoked an increase in open arm exploration but only when the rats were tested in the dark. These results suggest that light triggers the responses responsible for the avoidance of the open arms, and the drugs simply enhance or block them. Likewise, lacking the aversion triggered by light allowed locomotor activity to increase under the action of CAF.

Há relatos de que doses baixas de pentilenotetrazol (PTZ) apresentam um efeito ansiogênico em testes comportamentais que medem ansiedade. No labirinto em cruz elevado a droga reduz a porcentagem de entradas e o tempo gasto nos braços abertos. O clordiazepóxido (CDP), por outro lado, é uma droga que tem efeitos ansiolíticos, aumentando a exploração dos braços abertos do labirinto ao reduzir a aversão natural dos ratos aos braços abertos. Obtém-se um efeito similar quando o teste ocorre no escuro. Cafeína (CAF) é um composto estimulante que, aplicada em baixas doses, estimula a atividade motora no labirinto. O presente trabalho investiga o efeito de drogas gabaérgicas nas medidas de ansiedade obtidas no labirinto em cruz elevado, na presença ou ausência de luz. Ratos distribuídos aleatoriamente em 18 grupos receberam injeções de PTZ (0, 10 e 20 mg/kg), 5 min antes do teste, CDP (0,1.5 e 3 mg/kg) ou CAF (0, 10 e 30 mg/kg) 30 min antes do teste e foram colocados no labirinto em cruz elevado por 5 minutos, permitindo sua livre exploração, sob duas condições de luminosidade: claro (22 lux) ou escuro (0 lux). Os resultados mostraram que nem o PTZ nem o CDP tiveram qualquer efeito quando os animais eram testados no escuro. No claro, o PTZ diminuiu a exploração dos braços abertos, o que foi interpretado como um efeito ansiogênico, e o CDP apresentou um efeito oposto. A CAF provocou um aumento na exploração dos braços abertos somente no escuro. Esses resultados sugerem que a luminosidade deflagra as respostas responsáveis pela esquiva dos braços abertos, e as drogas simplesmente aumentam ou bloqueiam esse efeito. Da mesma forma, a falta da aversão desencadeada pela luz permitiu que a atividade locomotora aumentasse sob ação da CAF. / Pentylenetetrazol (PTZ), in low doses, was reported to have an anxiogenic effect in behavioral tests measuring anxiety. In the elevated plus-maze, it reduces the percentage of entries into and the time spent in the open arms. Chlordiazepoxide (CDP), on the other hand, is an anxiolytic drug which increases open arm exploration in the elevated plus-maze by reducing the natural aversion of rats to the open arms. A similar effect is obtained by testing rats in the dark. Caffeine (CAF) is a stimulant compound that, when administered in low doses, stimulates locomotor activity in the plus-maze. The present work investigated the effect of gabaergic drugs on anxiety levels in the presence and absence of light. Rats were randomly divided into 18 groups and either injected 5 min before testing with PTZ (0, 10, 20mg/kg) or 30 min before testing with CDP (0, 1.5, 3.0 mg/kg) or CAF (0, 10 and 30 mg/kg) and allowed to freely explore an elevated plus-maze for 5 min under two illumination conditions: light (22 lux) or dark (0 lux). Results show that neither PTZ nor CDP had any effect when the animals were tested in the dark. When tested in the light, PTZ decreased exploratory behavior in the open arms, which is usually interpreted as an anxiogenic effect, while CDP had the opposite effect. CAF provoked an increase in open arm exploration but only when the rats were tested in the dark. These results suggest that light triggers the responses responsible for the avoidance of the open arms, and the drugs simply enhance or block them. Likewise, lacking the aversion triggered by light allowed locomotor activity to increase under the action of CAF.

GABA is the main inhibitory neurotransmitter of the central nervous system. GABA[subscript A]Rs are multimeric transmembrane receptors, which are composed of 5 subunits. It is known that there are 19 subunits that can make up the GABA[subscript A]Rs, allowing for a vast array of receptor subtypes. In addition to the GABA binding site GABA[subscript A]Rs have distinct allosteric binding sites for benzodiazepines, barbiturates, ethanol, certain general anaesthetics and neuroactive steroids. The molecular heterogeneity of the GABA[subscript A]R is accompanied by distinct pharmacological profiles of the different receptor subtypes. The advance of transgenic mouse models has allowed the functional significance of this heterogeneity to be studied in vivo. Therefore, this thesis utilises a variety of transgenic mouse models carrying either mutations or deletions of certain subunits to study the functional significance of the receptor heterogeneity. Mice lacking the α1 subunit (α1[superscript(-/-)]), carrying a point mutation of the α1 subunit (α1H101R), and mice lacking the δ subunit (δ[superscript(-/-)]) have been utilised to investigate the role of these subunits in the sedative actions of benzodiazepines and the GABA[subscript A]R agonist THIP. Although there are limitations to the interpretation of these results due genetic background of the α1[superscript(-/-)] and α1H101R, experiments suggest that the α1H101R mutation is not behaviourally silent as previously suggested and provide further evidence that the α1 subunit mediates the sedative properties of benzodiazepines. These experiments also reveal that the extrasynaptic δ containing receptors are responsible for mediating the sedative effects of THIP, and these findings combined with evidence from collaborators, implicates the thalamus as an anatomical mediator of these effects. An investigation of the putative cognitive enhancing effects of THIP using an attentional set-shifting task for mice suggested that pre-treatment with THIP reduces the number of errors to reach criterion. δ[superscript(-/-)] mice could not be trained to perform the task, therefore further behavioural investigation of these mice was performed, which suggested a heightened level of anxiety and reduced motivation for a food reward. This thesis has furthered our understanding of the functional role of GABA[subscript A]R subtypes. With the advance in genetic manipulations that allow for regionally selective mutations of the receptor the anatomical structures involved in these functions can be identified.