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Tuesday, October 2, 2007

The Amygdala Regulates the Antianxiety Sensitization Effect of Flumazenil During Repeated Chronic Ethanol or Repeated Stress
Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research (OnlineEarly Articles). 1 October 2007

The benzodiazepine receptor antagonist flumazenil reduces anxiety-like behavior and sensitization of anxiety-like behavior in various models of ethanol withdrawal in rodents. The mechanism and brain region(s) that account for this action of flumazenil remain unknown.

This investigation explored the potential role of several brain regions (amygdala, raphe, inferior colliculus, nucleus accumbens, and paraventricular hypothalamus) for these actions of flumazenil.

Intra-amygdala flumazenil inhibits the development of anxiety sensitized by repeated ethanol withdrawal, stress/ethanol withdrawal, or DMCM/ethanol withdrawal.

These actions suggest that site-specific and persistent effects of flumazenil on γ-aminobutyric acid-modulatory processes in this brain region are relevant to sensitized behavioral effects seen in alcoholism.

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Request Reprint E-Mail: djkjas@med.unc.edu

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