Study summary · research use only
[COMPARISON OF PHARMACOLOGICAL EFFECTS OF HEPTAPEPTIDE SELANK AFTER INTRANASAL AND INTRAPERITONEAL ADMINISTRATION TO BALB/c AND C57BL/6 MICE.]
Plain-language summary
Paraphrased from the published abstract below — not a verdict on whether anything works.
In this mouse study (BALB/c and C57BL/6 mice), the authors compared pharmacological effects of intraperitoneal (i.p.) and intranasal (i.n.) administration of the heptapeptide selank (300 μg/kg/day for 5 days) using elevated-plus-maze behavior and measurement of marker binding to NMDA and GABA receptors in the brain. Anxiolytic and nootropic effects of selank administered via both routes were observed only in BALB/c mice, which had lower baseline exploratory activity and higher anxiety levels than C57BL/6 mice. In BALB/c mice, i.p. selank increased the number of [G-(3)H]SR 95531 binding sites at GABA receptors in the frontal cortex by 38%, without changing NMDA receptor binding in the hippocampus, while i.n. selank increased the density of [G-(3)H]MK-801 binding sites by 23% with no effect on GABA receptors.
Abstract
Pharmacological effects of intraperitoneal (i.p.) and intranasal (i.n.) administration of heptapeptide selank (300 μg/kg/day for 5 days), known to possess anxiolytic and nootropic properties, were compared by studying the elevated-plus-maze behavior of inbred BALB/c and C57BL/6 mice and measuring the binding of markers to NMDA and GABA receptors of brain. The anxiolytic and nootropic efficiency of selank administered via both routes was observed only in BALB/c mice, which were characterized by initially reduced exploratory activity and higher levels of anxiety as compared to C57BL/6 mice. In BALB/c mice, i.p. selank increased the number of [G-(3)H]SR 95531 binding sites with GABA-receptors in the frontal cortex by 38%, without change in binding to NMDA receptors in the hippocampus. On the contrary, i.n. selank led to an increase in the density of [G-(3)H]MK-801 binding sites by 23% with no effect on GABA receptors. It is suggested that the differences in pharmacological spectra observed for the two routes of selank administration are determined by specific features of drug pharmacokinetics and biotransformation as well as by the dynamics of formation of the anxiolytic and nootropic effects of selank.
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