Facilitation of endocannabinoid effects in the ventral hippocampus modulates anxiety-like behaviors depending on previous stress experience.

“Although several pieces of evidence indicate that the endocannabinoid system modulates anxiety-like behaviors and stress adaptation, few studies have investigated the brain sites of these effects. The ventral hippocampus (VHC) has been related to anxiety behaviors and has a high expression of cannabinoid-1 (CB1) receptors. Moreover, endocannabinoid signaling in the hippocampus is proposed to regulate stress adaptation. In the present study we investigated the role of previous stressful experience on the effects of AM404, an anandamide uptake inhibitor, microinjected into the VHC of rats submitted to the elevated plus maze (EPM), a widely used animal model of anxiety…

These results suggest that facilitation of endocannabinoid system neurotransmission in the ventral hippocampus modulates anxiety-like behaviors and that this effect depends on previous stress experience.”

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20167262

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