Abstract
Zinc ions are considered to be one of the most abundant trace elements in the human body. Among many important functions, zinc ions regulate the function of numerous structural, transcriptional and enzymatic proteins that play important roles in the correct function of the central nervous system. Thus, in the present work we were interested in determining some preliminary relevance for the possible effect of acute zinc administration on the anxiety-like behavior. Our initial results described here are showing interesting biotechnological relevance for zinc in this anxiety-related context and also further theoretical developing on this area considering oxidative stress related mechanisms. Moreover, the cardiovascular relevance in both contexts of magnesium vs. cardiovascular effects or anxiety and its relations with the cardiovascular system are presented.
Highlights
Anxiety is a psychological disorder and is characterized by apprehensive expectation or uncontrollably fears [1]
The majority of the available literature that use the open field test comes from drug screening studies, where the use of anxiolytic substances leads to a decrease in the occurrence of anxiety-like behaviors [1419]
Rats assigned to magnesium deficient group were allowed to freely access a 0.005% magnesium containing diet which provided about 10% of the daily magnesium requirement [21, 23]
Summary
The majority of the available literature that use the open field test comes from drug screening studies, where the use of anxiolytic substances leads to a decrease in the occurrence of anxiety-like behaviors [1419]. Rats with low plasma magnesium levels were found to display increased anxiety- related behavior This causal relationship was found to be unrelated of whether the depleted levels of magnesium are natural or experimentally induced [20,21]. Some studies have showed that supplementing with magnesium reduces the anxiety-like behavior of rats in different animal models [22]. Stimulated by these results, some authors have recently suggested that hypomagnesaemia may even be a possible biomarker of anxiety [20]
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