Adaptive behavior of active and passive rats after intranasal administration of the corticotropin-releasing hormone

Behavioural effect of intranasal application of corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH) was investigated in rats with high (KHA) and low (KLA) rate of learning in "open field" and plus-maze (PM) active avoidance test. The neurohormone provoked the opposed changes in behaviour of rats of this strain in both tests. The level of locomotion and exploratory activity rose in KLA rats and decreased in KHA rats. After the CRH application, the KLA rats but not KHA rats spent more time in the opened alleys of the PM than the control animals. The same behavioural changes were observed in our previous research when CRH was injected in striatum. We suppose that CRH is an endogenous factor of precise correction of the adaptive behaviour.