The effects of prolonged rose odor inhalation in two animal models of anxiety

Abstract

Aim: To investigate the anxiolytic effects of prolonged rose odor exposure, mature gerbils were exposed to acute (24 h), chronic (2 week) rose odor, or a no odor condition. Anxiolytic effects were assessed using the elevated plus maze and black white box. Rose odor profiles were compared with diazepam (1 mg/kg) i.p. The Jonckheere–Terpstra test was used, with the Mann–Whitney U test to examine significant group differences. In the elevated plus maze, spatiotemporal measures, altered by diazepam, were unaffected by rose oil, whereas exploration, increased (headdip frequency: acute U=100, pb0.001; chronic U=13, pb0.001). In the black white box, rose oil had anxiolytic spatiotemporal and exploratory behavior effects: latency to move from the white to the black compartment (acute U=182, pb0.01, chronic U=179, pb0.05), percentage time in the white compartment (acute U=168, pb0.01, chronic U=149, pb0.01) and exploration, rear-sniff frequency white (acute U=100, pb0.001; chronic U=99, pb0.001) increased. The percentage of time in the dark area decreased (acute U=160, pb0.01, chronic U=178, pb0.05). This anxiolytic profile strengthened after chronic exposure to rose odor, transitions between the compartments (U=167, pb0.01) and percentage of time moving around the arena (U=154, pb0.001) increased.
Conclusion: This profile was more representative of modern anxiolytics, for example some serotonergic agents, rather than benzodiazepine type drugs.