Importância da região AV3V sobre comportamento tipo ansioso e tipo depressivo de ratos.

Abstract

Depressive behavior and excessive anxiety are pathologies considered public health problem, however, even in the face of different studies, little is known about the main mechanisms involved with their occurrence and maintenance. Studies have shown that the hormone angiotensin II is involved in neurotransmission of both pathologies. In the hypothalamus, the periventricular anteroventral third ventricle (AV3V) region possesses angiotensinergic receptors and participates in the cardiovascular and hydroelectrolitic control. This study aimed to test the depressive- and anxiety-like behaviors in AV3V lesioned rats. Male Wistar rats were used and all protocols were approved by The Animal Care and Use Committee (CEUA:120/17). The rats were supplied by REBIR-UFU (animal facility) and after they reaching around 300 grams, a stereotaxy was performed followed by the formations of 3 groups: Control group (no surgery), Group with electrolytic AV3V lesion (2 mA/10 seg) and group with Sham lesion. Five days after the stereotaxic procedure, the Elevated Plus Maze (EPM) and the Open Field (OF) tests were performed for the study of anxiety-like behavior as well as de Forced Swimming (FS) for the study of depressive like-behavior. The results showed that AV3V lesioned rats did not presented the immobility in the FS test characterizing a decrease in the depressive like-behavior. In addition, lesion of the AV3V region did not modify the anxiety-like behavior in any test (EPM/OF). The results suggest that the integrity of the AV3V region is important for the onset of depressive-like behavior.