Central Ghrelin increases anxiety in open field and impairs retention memory in passive avoidance task in neonatal chicks.

CARAVAJAL PEDRO; CARLINI VALERIA; SCHIÖTH HELGI; RUBIALES DE BARIOGLIO, SUSANA ELIZABETH; SALVATIERRA NANCY

Elsevier

Año: 2009 vol. 91 p. 402 - 402

font face="AdvGulliv-R" size="1"> Ghrelin (Grh) is an endogenous ligand for the growth hormone secretagogue receptor. Although Ghr stimulates feeding in rats, it inhibits feeding in neonatal chicks. However, little is known about other central behavioral effects of Ghr. Therefore, we investigated the Ghr effects, injected intracerebroventricularly, on anxiety and memory retention of neonatal chicks in an Open Field test and in a one-trial passive avoidance task, respectively. In the Open Field test, the administration of Ghr in a dose-dependent manner increased the latency to ambulate but decreased ambulation activity, indicating an anxiogenic effect. Furthermore, chicks trained on a passive avoidance task and injected with a dose of 30 pmol of Ghr immediately after training showed an impai