"It Works for Me": Pseudotherapy Use is Associated With Trust in Their Efficacy Rather Than Belief in Their Scientific Validity.

To identify how perceptions, attitudes, and beliefs towards pseudotherapies, health, medicine, and the public health system influence the pseudotherapy use in Spain. We carried out a cross-sectional study using the Survey of Social Perception of Science and Technology-2018 (5,200 interviews). Dependent variable: ever use of pseudotherapies.

Enhanced noradrenergic activity in the amygdala contributes to hyperarousal in an animal model of PTSD.

Increased activity of the noradrenergic system in the amygdala has been suggested to contribute to the hyperarousal symptoms associated with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). However, only two studies have examined the content of noradrenaline or its metabolites in the amygdala of rats previously exposed to traumatic stress showing inconsistent results. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of an inescapable foot shock (IFS) procedure (1) on reactivity to novelty in an open-field (as an index of hyperarousal), and (2) on noradrenaline release in the amygdala during an acute stress.

Infralimbic cortex controls the activity of the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis and the formation of aversive memory: Effects of environmental enrichment.

The aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of the stimulation and inhibition of the ventral part of the medial prefrontal cortex (infralimbic cortex) on basal and stress-induced plasma levels of corticosterone and on the acquisition of aversive memory in animals maintained in control and environmental enrichment (EE) conditions. Intracortical microinjections of the GABAA antagonist picrotoxin and agonist muscimol were performed in male Wistar rats to stimulate and inhibit, respectively, the activity of the infralimbic cortex. Injections were performed 60 min before foot shock stress and training in the inhibitory avoidance task.

Stress, neurotransmitters, corticosterone and body-brain integration.

Stress can be defined as a brain-body reaction towards stimuli arising from the environment or from internal cues that are interpreted as a disruption of homeostasis. The organization of the response to a stressful situation involves not only the activity of different types of neurotransmitter systems in several areas of the limbic system, but also the response of neurons in these areas to several other chemicals and hormones, chiefly glucocorticoids, released from peripheral organs and glands. Thus, stress is probably the process through which body-brain integration plays a major role.

Environmental enrichment increases the in vivo extracellular concentration of dopamine in the nucleus accumbens: a microdialysis study.

The present study was designed to elucidate the effects of environmental enrichment in adulthood (EE) on the in vivo basal and stimulated extracellular concentration of dopamine in the nucleus accumbens of awake rats. The effects of EE on novelty-induced motor activity in an open field and on the levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) in the nucleus accumbens and striatum were also analysed. Male Wistar rats (3 months of age) were housed in enriched or control conditions during 12 months.

Prefrontal cortex, caloric restriction and stress during aging: studies on dopamine and acetylcholine release, BDNF and working memory.

This study was designed to investigate whether long-term caloric restriction during the life span of the rat changes the effects of an acute mild stress on the release of dopamine and acetylcholine in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) and on working memory performance. Spontaneous motor activity was also monitored and levels of BDNF measured in the prefrontal cortex, amygdala and hippocampus. Male Wistar rats (3 months of age) were housed during 3, 12, 21 and 27 months (6, 15, 24 and 30 months of age at the end of housing) in caloric restriction (CR; 40% food intake restriction) or control conditions.

Aging increases basal but not stress-induced levels of corticosterone in the brain of the awake rat.

The main purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of aging on plasma and free corticosterone (CORT) levels in the brain in basal conditions and in response to an acute stressor. Microdialysis experiments were performed in the hippocampus (HC) and the prefrontal cortex (PFC) of young adult (6 months) and aged (24 months) male Wistar rats. Basal free levels of CORT in the HC and the PFC were higher in aged animals.

Environmental enrichment, prefrontal cortex, stress, and aging of the brain.

As a result of living in an enriched environment, the brain of animals undergoes molecular and morphological changes leading to improvements in learning and memory. These improvements correlate well with increase in neurogenesis, synaptic density, or neurotrophic factors. We review here, in the context of the literature, the experiments performed in our own laboratory on the effects of environmental enrichment on the dynamics of dopamine and acetylcholine in the prefrontal cortex under a situation of acute mild stress.

Blockade of NMDA receptors in the prefrontal cortex increases dopamine and acetylcholine release in the nucleus accumbens and motor activity.

Objectives: The present study investigates the effects of injections of a specific N-methyl-D-aspartic acid (NMDA) antagonist 3-[(R)-2-carboxypiperazin-4-yl]-propyl-1-phophonic acid (CPP) into the prefrontal cortex (PFC) on the extracellular concentrations of dopamine and acetylcholine in the nucleus accumbens (NAc) and on motor activity in the freely moving rat.

Materials And Methods: Sprague-Dawley male rats were implanted with guide cannulas into the medial PFC and NAc to perform bilateral microinjections and microdialysis experiments. Spontaneous motor activity was monitored in the open field.

Environmental enrichment reduces the response to stress of the cholinergic system in the prefrontal cortex during aging.

The present study was designed to evaluate the release of acetylcholine in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) induced by handling stress during aging and also to investigate whether this response changed as a result of the animals living in an enriched environment. Male Wistar rats of 3 months of age were housed in control and enriched conditions during the entire period of their adult life and experiments were performed at 6, 15 and 24 months of age. Spontaneous motor activity was first monitored in an open field arena.

Glutamate-dopamine-GABA interactions in the aging basal ganglia.

The study of neurotransmitter interactions gives a better understanding of the physiology of specific circuits in the brain. In this review we focus mostly on our own results on the interaction of the neurotransmitters glutamate, dopamine and GABA in the basal ganglia during the normal process of aging. We review first the studies on the action of endogenous glutamate on the extracellular concentrations of dopamine and GABA in the neostriatum and nucleus accumbens during aging.

Effects of an enriched environment on the release of dopamine in the prefrontal cortex produced by stress and on working memory during aging in the awake rat.

The present study was designed to investigate the effects of a mild acute stress on the in vivo release of dopamine in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) during aging and whether housing animals in an enriched environment changes these effects. Behavioural parameters such as spontaneous motor activity (open-field) and working memory performance in a delayed alternation task (water T-maze) were also studied. Male Wistar rats (3 months of age) were housed during 3, 12, and 21 months (6, 15 and 24 months of age at the end of housing) in enriched or control conditions.

Aging, plasticity and environmental enrichment: structural changes and neurotransmitter dynamics in several areas of the brain.

Cajal was probably the first neurobiologist to suggest that plasticity of nerve cells almost completely disappeared during aging. However, we know today that neural plasticity is still present in the brain during aging. In this review we suggest that aging is a physiological process that occurs asynchronously in different areas of the brain and that the rate of that process is modulated by environmental factors and related to the neuronal-synaptic-molecular substrates of each area.

Stress, prefrontal cortex and environmental enrichment: studies on dopamine and acetylcholine release and working memory performance in rats.

The aim of the present study was to investigate whether environmental enrichment changes the effects of acute stress on both the release of dopamine and acetylcholine in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) and working memory performance. Male Wistar rats (3 months of age) were housed in enriched or control conditions during 12 months. Behavioural testing was carried out to assess working memory performance in a delayed alternation task (water escape T-maze).

Environmental enrichment promotes neurogenesis and changes the extracellular concentrations of glutamate and GABA in the hippocampus of aged rats.

The aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of environmental enrichment on the neurogenesis and the extracellular concentrations of glutamate and GABA in the hippocampus of freely moving young and aged rats. Male Wistar rats of 2 (young) and 25 (old) months of age were housed during 8 weeks in an enriched environment; control rats were kept in individual plastic cages during that same period of time. Rats were injected intraperitoneally with bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU; 40 mg/kg; 7 days) during the fourth week of the housing period to detect neurogenesis in the dentate gyrus (DG) of the hippocampus.

Effects of the metabotropic glutamate receptor agonist, ACPD, on the extracellular concentrations of GABA and acetylcholine in the prefrontal cortex of the rat during the normal process of aging.

The aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of activation of metabotropic glutamate receptors (mGluR) on the extracellular concentrations of GABA and acetylcholine in the prefrontal cortex of freely moving rats of different groups of age. Perfusion, through the microdialysis probe, of the agonist of mGluR, (1S,3R)-1-aminocyclopentane-1,3-dicarboxylic acid (ACPD; 100, 500 and 1000 microM), in the prefrontal cortex of young rats produced a dose-related increase of the dialysate concentrations of GABA. The effects of perfusion of ACPD on the concentrations of GABA were attenuated in middle-aged rats.

Dopamine and GABA increases produced by activation of glutamate receptors in the nucleus accumbens are decreased during aging.

The aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of aging on the increases of dopamine and GABA induced by activation of ionotropic and metabotropic glutamate receptors in the nucleus accumbens of the freely moving rat. The effects of local perfusion of the agonists NMDA (10, 100 and 500 microM), AMPA (1, 20 and 100 microM) and ACPD (100, 500 and 1000 microM) on extracellular concentration of dopamine and GABA in the nucleus accumbens of young (2-4 months), middle-aged (10-14 months) and aged (24-32 months) male Wistar rats were studied using microdialysis. In young rats, perfusion of the agonists NMDA and AMPA, but not ACPD, produced an increase of dialysate concentrations of dopamine.

Effects of CB1 cannabinoid receptor modulating compounds on the hyperkinesia induced by high-dose levodopa in the reserpine-treated rat model of Parkinson's disease.

The present study was designed to determine the potential of CB1 cannabinoid receptor modulating compounds in the treatment of L-3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine (L-dopa)-induced dyskinesia in Parkinson's disease. In the reserpine-treated rat model of parkinsonism, administration of a high dose of L-dopa (150 mg/kg) but not of Cl-APB (0.5 mg/kg) or quinpirole (0.