| dc.description.abstract | The main feature of panic disorder is the occurrence of panic attacks. Pharmacological treatment is made with antidepressants and benzodiazepines. The endocannabinod system is a neurotransmitter system involved in the modulation of aversive responses. Therefore, in the present study we tested the hypothesis that this system inibits panic-like behaviors in experimental animals. In the first part, we investigated the involvement of cannabinoid receptor 1 (CB1) in the antiaversive effects induced by systemic injection of alprazolam or injection of the 5-HT1A agonist, 8-OH-DPAT, in the dorsolateral periaquedutal gray (dlPAG). In addition, we tested if increasing endocannabinoid sigaling induces panicolytic effects in the escape induced by KCN. We observed that CB1 antagonism prevented the effects of alprazolam and 8-OH-DPAT. None of the drugs tested was efficacious in the escape reaction induced by KCN, however, alprazolam presented a panicolytic effect. In the last part, we showed that doxapram induces anxiogenic efffects in the elevated T maze and cellular activation of the ventrolateral portion of the PAG. It can be concluded that the endocannabinoid system is involved in the mechanism of action of panicolytic drugs, but not in the induction of panic-like behaviors induced by KCN or doxapram. Moreover, this study suggests the utilization of the hyperventilation induced by doxapram as an animal model of panic attac | |
