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Non-invasive stress-free application of glucocorticoid ligands in mice. Export

J Neurosci Methods (16 January 2008)

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Most drug delivery procedures induce stress, which might interfere with the pharmacological action of the drug and behaviour. Stress is deduced from high and long-lasting elevations of the hormone corticosterone. We set out to develop a non-invasive, stress-free method of drug delivery in mice. Validation consisted of delivery of glucocorticoid ligands via oats to male C57BL/6J mice. Oat consumption induced a small increase in corticosterone concentrations after 15min (<50ng/ml) that returned to low resting levels at t=30 (<10ng/ml). Gavage and intraperitoneal (i.p.) vehicle injections resulted in long-lasting corticosterone elevations (>100ng/ml at t=30 and approximately 50ng/ml at t=60min after delivery). Adding corticosterone to oats resulted in threefold higher plasma corticosterone in the 15.0-mg/kg group (+/-250ng/ml) compared to the 4.5-mg/kg group at t=30 and 90. Application of the glucocorticoid receptor antagonist RU38486 (200mg/kg) elevated plasma corticosterone for at least 8h. Additional swimming increased corticosterone even further. Presumably, already the small oat-consumption-induced increase of corticosterone requires negative feedback via glucocorticoid receptors. In conclusion, the context-dependent and dose-controlled application of drugs via oats avoids confounding strong stress system activation and makes it suitable for studies on learning and memory processes.


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