EC Nutrition

Caffeine, a legal psychostimulant, present in coffee, plays a significant role in reversing anxiety-like behavior following exposure to stress. The present study aimed to investigate the effect of acute immobilization stress in long-term coffee-treated rats drinking coffee as a sole source of water, altered locomotor activity, and anxiety in rats using behavioral and receptor expression studies. Forty-eight male Albino Wistar rats (180 - 200g) were randomly divided into 3 groups (n = 16); Water-treated; Coffee low-dose (10 mg/mL); and Coffee high-dose (20 mg/mL) rat groups. The animals received their respective coffee treatment for 14 days, while the animals of the control group were on drinking water. On day 14, animals were further subdivided into 3 groups (n = 8); (i) Water-treated unstressed; (ii) Water-treated stressed; (iii) Coffee low-dose (10 mg/mL) unstressed; (iv) Coffee low-dose (10 mg/mL) stressed; (v) Coffee high-dose (20 mg/mL) unstressed; (vi) Coffee high-dose (20 mg/mL) stressed rat groups. On day 16, 24h after the immobilization stress, activities in the open field (OF) and elevated plus maze (EPM) paradigms were used to assess locomotor and anxiety-like behavior, then animals were subjected to decapitation. Another similar group of rats was used for 14 days of coffee treatment. On day 16, 24h after the immobilization stress, all stressed and unstressed groups were decapitated and the brain region hippocampus was isolated to determine the 5-HT1A receptors expression by using qRT-PCR. The results showed that acute immobilization stress in coffee-treated rats exhibited a motor-depressant effect. Anxiety-like behavior was found both in long-term coffee-treated unstressed and stressed rats. The levels of hippocampal 5-HT1A receptors were downregulated in both unstressed and stressed coffee-treated rats compared to respective controls. The present findings showed that acute immobilization stress in long-term coffee-treated rats potentially induced anxiogenic effects by downregulating 5-HT1A signaling in the hippocampus.

 Keywords: Coffee; 5-HT1A Receptor; Anxiety-Like Behavior; Hippocampus; Immobilization Stress

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