Background: The deployment of the mental health nurse, an additional healthcare provider for individuals in need of mental healthcare in Dutch general practices, was expected to substitute treatments from general practitioners and providers in basic and specialized mental healthcare (psychologists, psychotherapists, psychiatrists, etc.). The goal of this study was to investigate the extent to which the degree of mental health nurse deployment in general practices is associated with healthcare utilization patterns of individuals with depression.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) is a psychiatric disorder characterized by excessive and repetitive thoughts and gestures, mainly treated pharmacologically with selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). The marble burying test in mice is commonly used to model OCD and has been shown to be sensitive to SSRIs, which decrease burying behavior. The activity of SSRIs in this model is mediated through activation of 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) 1A receptors, but the respective implication of pre- versus postsynaptic 5-HT1A receptors has not been elucidated.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFN-desmethylclozapine (NDMC or norclozapine) is the major active metabolite of the antipsychotic clozapine in humans. The activity of NDMC differs from clozapine at a number of neurotransmitter receptors, probably influencing the pharmacological effects of clozapine treatment. Here, we tested the properties of NDMC in comparison with clozapine at recombinant human dopamine D(2) and serotonin 5-HT(1A) receptors, using a panel of functional assays implicating diverse signalling pathways.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEur J Pharmacol
October 2009
Brain region-specific modulation of immediate-early gene (IEG) may constitute a marker of antipsychotic drug-like activity. We investigated the effects of the putative antipsychotic drug N-[(2,2-dimethyl-2,3-dihydro-benzofuran-7-yloxy)ethyl]-3-(cyclopent-1-enyl)-benzylamine (F15063), a compound that targets both dopamine D(2) and serotonin 5-HT(1A) receptors, in comparison with haloperidol and clozapine on rat mRNA expression of IEG i.e.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground And Purpose: Activation of post-synaptic 5-HT(1A) receptors may provide enhanced therapy against depression. We describe the signal transduction profile of F15599, a novel 5-HT(1A) receptor agonist.
Experimental Approach: F15599 was compared with a chemical congener, F13714, and with (+)8-OH-DPAT in models of signal transduction in vitro and ex vivo.
Naunyn Schmiedebergs Arch Pharmacol
January 2009
Agonist activity at recombinant human dopamine D4.4 receptors was compared in stably transfected CHO cells using two functional readouts: G protein activation by [35S]GTPgammaS binding and phosphorylation of extracellular signal-regulated kinase 1/2 (pERK1/2). Results with a large series of agonists reveal markedly higher relative agonist efficacy in the pERK1/2 assay compared with [35S]GTPgammaS binding, while potencies were generally higher in the latter readout.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAntipsychotics constitute efficacious augmenting agents in the treatment of anxiety disorders, including refractory obsessive-compulsive disorder. We examined the effects of 36 compounds, including typical, atypical and novel antipsychotics with dual dopamine D2/5-hydroxytryptamine 1A (D2/5-HT1A) actions on marble burying behavior in mice, a putative preclinical test for anxiety disorders. One hour after drug administration, male NMRI mice were placed individually in cages containing 20 marbles, and the total number of marbles buried after 30 min was counted.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe effects of new generation antipsychotic drugs (APDs) targeting dopamine D(2) and serotonin 5-HT(1A) receptors were compared with typical and atypical APDs on phosphorylation of extracellular signal-regulated kinase 1/2 (ERK 1/2) and measures of G protein activation in CHO cell lines stably expressing the human dopamine D(3) receptor. The preferential dopamine D(3) agonists (+)-7-OH-DPAT and PD128907, like dopamine and quinelorane, efficaciously stimulated ERK 1/2 phosphorylation at dopamine D(3) receptors. In contrast, in [(35)S]GTPgammaS binding experiments, (+)-7-OH-DPAT exhibited partial agonist properties, while PD128907 and quinelorane maintained full agonist properties.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground And Purpose: The D(2)/D(3) receptor antagonist, D(4) receptor partial agonist, and high efficacy 5-HT(1A) receptor agonist F15063 was shown to be highly efficacious and potent in rodent models of activity against positive symptoms of schizophrenia. However F15063 induced neither catalepsy nor the 'serotonin syndrome'. Here, we evaluated its profile in rat models predictive of efficacy against negative symptoms/cognitive deficits of schizophrenia.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe effects of antipsychotics targeting dopamine D2 and serotonin 5-HT1A receptors were compared with conventional antipsychotics on phosphorylation of Extracellular signal-Regulated Kinase 1/2 (ERK 1/2) in CHO cell lines stably expressing either the human serotonin 5-HT1A or human dopamine D2S receptor. All antipsychotics except haloperidol and olanzapine exhibited agonist properties at serotonin 5-HT1A receptors. Emax values (% effect of 10 microM 5-HT) were: bifeprunox (74), SSR181507 (73), SLV313 (72), aripiprazole (60), ziprasidone (56), clozapine (33).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFConsiderable interest has arisen in identifying antipsychotic agents with improved efficacy against negative symptoms, such as social withdrawal. In rats, a social interaction deficit can be induced by the NMDA antagonist phencyclidine (PCP). Here, we examined the effects of antipsychotics, reported to exert dual 5-HT(1A)/D(2) actions, on PCP-induced social interaction deficits.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCompounds possessing 5-HT(1A) agonist properties attenuate catalepsy induced by D(2) receptor blockade. Here we examined the role of 5-HT(1A) receptor agonism in the reduced cataleptogenic potential of several novel antipsychotic agents in the crossed leg position (CLP) and the bar catalepsy tests in rats. When administered alone, ziprasidone produced marked catalepsy, whereas aripiprazole, bifeprunox, SLV313, SSR181507 and sarizotan did not.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF5-HT(1A) receptor activation by the very-high-efficacy, selective 5-HT(1A) receptor agonist F 13640 [(3-Chloro-4-fluoro-phenyl)-[4-fluoro-4-([(5-methyl-pyridin-2-ylmethyl)-amino]-methyl)piperidin-1-yl]-methanone] was recently discovered to constitute a novel central mechanism of broad-spectrum analgesia that, remarkably, grows rather than decays with chronicity. However, in rodents not exposed to nociception, F 13640 induces its analgesic effect only after having initially induced hyperalgesia. Numerical simulations implementing a signal transduction theory here show that the progressive increase in the intensity of nociceptive stimulation which F 13640 presumably mimics should eventually produce a large analgesic effect without initially causing marked pain.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe determined whether tolerance develops to a morphine-induced state of memory. Rats were injected with 5 mg/kg of morphine and trained to complete a FR-10 schedule of lever presses in daily sessions. The dose-response curve of morphine (1.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPsychopharmacology (Berl)
February 2003
Objectives: This study examined the effects of tacrine on scopolamine-induced state-dependence.
Methods: Rats were trained to complete an FR10 schedule of lever presses for milk reward within 120 s after the onset of an operant session and were subsequently tested for the retrieval of the response in either the same or a different, pharmacologically defined, state.
Results: In rats trained with 2.
The A allele of the 5-HT(2A) gene (-1438A/G polymorphism) has been associated with anorexia nervosa in four studies, but not in three others. One possibility to explain such a discrepancy is that the A allele acts as a modifying rather than a vulnerability allele. To test this hypothesis, we increased our initial sample of 102 trios left open bracket Mol.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPsychopharmacology (Berl)
June 2002
Rationale: Modafinil is a drug that promotes wakefulness and, as such, is used to treat hypersomnia and narcolepsy. Preclinical and clinical studies suggest that modafinil could possess weak reinforcing effects in drug-experienced subjects. However, its abuse potential in drug-naive healthy individuals is still totally uninvestigated, despite the fact that availability of modafinil has recently increased.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFor the analysis of pharmacotherapeutic regimens for chronic pain in animals, it is important to establish delivery methods in which analgesics can be administered continuously and at a constant rate for a prolonged period of time. This allows for the assessment of how drug effects may vary over time in the presence of ongoing pain. The present study determined, for four analgesic compounds, the maximal doses that met all of the following criteria: (i) water-soluble, (ii) stable over 14 days at 38 degrees C, and (iii) devoid of undesirable side-effects in normal rats, as assessed by evolution of body weight and temperature after the subcutaneous implantation of an osmotic mini-pump that continuously infused the compounds over a 14-day period.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFA concept of signal transduction in biological systems specifies that any instantaneous input is appreciated by its departure from the moving average of past activity. The concept provides an adequate account of the occurrence of both the one-directional (e.g.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAlthough it is recognized that retrieval may be state-dependent, only recently has a paradigm been identified that allows state-dependence in rats to be demonstrated reliably and at relevant doses of CNS agents. In humans, the effects of scopolamine constitute a valuable model of disordered memory. We used this paradigm to analyze the effects of scopolamine on different memory processes.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe study examined the validity of oral fentanyl self-administration (FSA) as a measure of the chronic nociceptive pain that develops in rats with adjuvant arthritis independently of acute noxious challenges. Arthritic rats self-administered more of a 0.008 mg/ml fentanyl solution (up to 3.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThree series of studies were conducted to specify the role of 5-HT(1A) receptors in memory; using selective ligands that differentially activate 5-HT(1A) receptors, it was determined whether a change in the activation state of these receptors can lead to deficient retrieval, and whether a so-produced deficit can occur in an animal model of depression. First, in vitro studies of [35S]GTPgammaS binding responses identified ligands that differentially activate 5-HT(1A) receptors in rat hippocampus. WAY 100635, 8-OH-DPAT and flesinoxan induced 5-HT(1A) receptor activation that amounted to -2, +50 and +63%, respectively, of that produced by 5-HT.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBehav Pharmacol
March 1999
Previous studies have found that the timely completion of an FR10 schedule of food-rewarded lever pressing in rats demonstrates state dependence in drug-to-saline state changes with benzodiazepines and NMDA antagonists, but not with ethanol. We report here that, using sweetened condensed milk rather than food pellets as a reward, ethanol nonetheless produces a symmetrical state dependence with the lever press response requirement at doses that also impair acquisition. Extensive parametric studies are needed to unravel the apparently subtle conditions that govern the occurrence and features of the state dependence produced by various CNS compounds.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDifferent normo- and pathophysiological conditions are associated with large variations in plasma and brain concentrations of neuroactive steroids. In an attempt to specify the possible role of these steroids in memory processes, we examined the ability of pregnanolone, a positive modulator of the gamma-aminobutyric acid type A (GABAA) receptor complex, to sustain state dependence in rats. Animals treated with either saline or different doses of pregnanolone were trained to complete a fixed ratio 10 (FR10) schedule of lever presses for milk reward within 120 s, and were tested for the retention of this response 48 h later while treated with the same or a different treatment.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe present studies characterized the receptor mechanisms of morphine-induced states of memory. Morphine (5 mg/kg) produced a state in which rats could learn and retrieve an operant response; retrieval was impaired, however, when the rats were tested in the normal state. Conversely, rats that were trained in the normal state failed to retrieve the response in the morphine state.
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