摘要：The present study investigated the sensitivity to stress and diazepam in weaning (21-day old) Wistar rats.A single 15- min session of forced swimming was used to induce anxiety-like behavior.The group that was forced to swim exhibited an increase in anxiety-like behavior in the elevated plus maze (EPM) and open field test (OFT) compared to the non-stressed group.Diazepam (1 h before the tests) reduced anxiety-like behavior in rats forced to swim compared to the vehicle stressed group.The dose-response curve for diazepam indicated that the 0.5 mg kg–1 dose (1 h before the EPM and OFT) was the minimum effective dose in reducing anxiety-like behavior without altering locomotor activity in weaning rats.These results indicate that weaning rats can develop anxiety-like behavior after a brief,single session of stress,and that rats at this age are seemingly more sensitive to diazepam than adult rats,which may be taken into account for clinical applications.
关键词：anxiety;diazepam;weaning rats;elevated plus maze;forced swim;open field test
