Study of the Putative Influence of beta3 Adrenoceptor Agonism on Brain Oxygen Tension and Blood Flow; a Flow Oxymetry Study in the Rat Medial-Prefrontal Cortex

It has been reported that stimulation of the beta3 receptor resulted in strong anxiolytic- like outcome as well as antidepressant-like effects in acute or chronic models of depression in rodents. In addition this appears devoid of side effects related to cognition, motor activity, alcohol interaction or physical dependence. In previous work the methodology of in vivo flow oxymetry has been applied to analyze the influence of another class of receptor agonist upon tissue oxygen tension (pO2), and blood flow (cBF) in the rat brain. In the present study flow oxymetry has been applied in the medial-prefrontal cortex of anaesthetised rats so that to study the putative influence of the beta3 adrenoceptor agonist SB2039X on oxygen tension and blood flow.