Each subject was placed in the corner of the testing arena, and the time until the first feeding episode was recorded. Immediately after the mouse began to eat the chow, the tested animal was placed alone in its home cage with a weighed piece of chow for 5 min. At the end of this period, Ivacaftor the amount of food consumed was determined by weighing the piece of chow. After all the mice from a single cage had been tested, the mice were returned to their home cage with food and water provided ad libitum.

NBQX, PCPA, WAY100635, and ritanserin did not affect the latency to feed in the NSF test at the doses used in the present study (11). None of the treatments affected the amount of food consumed at doses used in the test (data not shown). The results were

expressed as the mean ± S.E.M. Statistical significance was determined using a one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) or a two-way ANOVA, followed by the Student’s t-test and the Dunnett’s test or the LSD post-hoc test for comparing the treated group with a control group and multi-group comparisons, respectively. Statistical differences between the two sets of groups were determined using the Student’s t-test. A value of P <0.05 was considered statistically significant. MPEP significantly reduced the latency period until feeding in the NSF test [F(3,40) = 4.46, P < 0.01] ( Fig. 1). The decrease in the latency to feed induced by MPEP (3 mg/kg i.p.) was blocked by pretreatment with PCPA (300 mg/kg i.p. twice daily for 3 days) [MPEP, F(1,40) = 5.46, P < 0.05; PCPA, F(1,40) = 3.07, P = 0.09; interaction, F(1,40) = 4.87, see more P < 0.05] ( Fig. 1). Pretreatment with PCPA itself did not affect the latency to feed ( Fig. 1). MPEP significantly reduced the latency period until feeding in the NSF test [F(1,22) = 8.25, P < 0.01] ( Fig. 2). The decrease why in the latency to feed induced by MPEP (3 mg/kg i.p.) was not blocked by pretreatment with a 5-HT1A receptor antagonist,

WAY100635 (0.3, 1, and 3 mg/kg s.c.) [F(3,43) = 0.06, P = 0.98] ( Fig. 2). MPEP significantly reduced the latency period until feeding in the NSF test [F(1,22) = 12.36, P < 0.01] ( Fig. 3). The decrease in the latency to feed induced by MPEP (3 mg/kg i.p.) was blocked by pretreatment with a 5-HT2A/2C receptor antagonist, ritanserin (0.5 mg/kg i.p.) [F(3,44) = 3.86, P < 0.05] ( Fig. 3). MPEP significantly reduced the latency period until feeding in the NSF test [F(1,21) = 14.54, P < 0.01] ( Fig. 4). The decrease in the latency to feed induced by MPEP (3 mg/kg i.p.) was not blocked by pretreatment with an AMPA receptor antagonist, NBQX (1, 3 and 10 mg/kg s.c.) [F(3,44) = 0.59, P = 0.63] ( Fig. 4). In the present study, we demonstrated that, similar to ketamine, an mGlu5 receptor antagonist exerted its effect through the serotonergic system in the NSF test, although the mechanisms of the involvement of the serotonergic system were different.