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The Journal of Neuroscience, January 15, 2001, 21(2):726-731

Effects of Antisense to the alpha 2A-Adrenoceptors Administered into the Region of the Locus Ceruleus on Behaviors in Plus-Maze and Sexual Behavior Tests in Sham-Operated and Castrated Male Rats

Galina T. Shishkina, Tatjana S. Kalinina, Natalja Yu. Sournina, and Nikolai N. Dygalo

Institute of Cytology and Genetics, Russian Academy of Sciences, Novosibirsk 630090, Russia

Clinical and experimental findings have implicated brain alpha 2-adrenoceptors in the regulation of many physiological functions, including sexual activity and stress-related behavior. However, which subtypes of the three alpha 2-adrenoceptors that have now been cloned (alpha 2A, alpha 2B, and alpha 2C) are involved in these controls have yet to be established. Here, we investigated the contribution of alpha 2A-adrenoceptors of the locus ceruleus, the principal source of brain noradrenaline, to exploratory and sexual behaviors. Using administration of antisense oligodeoxynucleotide to inhibit the receptor expression, we found that reductions in brainstem alpha 2A-adrenoceptor mRNA levels and alpha 2-adrenoceptor densities induced by antisense treatment were not accompanied by any changes in the major characteristics of male sexual activity, such as mount latencies and numbers of mounts. However, in sexual behavior tests, antisense-treated male rats had decreased numbers of rearings and thus have higher percentages of behaviors positively correlated with sexual activity. Besides, antisense-treated animals had decreased anxiety in plus-maze tests. The data demonstrate that inhibition of alpha 2A-adrenoceptor expression in the region of the locus ceruleus has an anxiolytic-like effect and facilitates male's attention to female in sexual behavior test.

Key words: alpha 2A-adrenoceptors; locus ceruleus; anxiety; male sexual behavior; antisense oligodeoxynucleotide; mRNA

Copyright © 2001 Society for Neuroscience  0270-6474/01/212726-06$05.00/0




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