Figure 2.

Pharmacological effects of the central administration of RXFP3 receptor ligands and inhibition of the NI. Agonist effects are shown in green and antagonist effects are shown in red. Infusion of relaxin‐3 or RXFP3 receptor agonists in the lateral ventricle (LV) causes increased feeding and locomotion, and decreased anxiety and depressive‐like behaviour. Infusion of relaxin‐3 into hypothalamic centres, especially the PVN, increased feeding behaviour. Infusion of relaxin‐3 into the third ventricle (3V) increased both feeding behaviour and plasma levels of corticosterone, ACTH, prolactin and leptin. Infusion of RXFP3 receptor antagonist in the medial septum (MS) impaired spatial memory and decreased hippocampal theta activity, whereas infusion of agonist in the MS increased hippocampal theta activity. Finally, reversible inhibition (by lidocaine) of the NI causes impairment in spatial and reference memory and irreversible inhibition (by CRF‐saporin or electrolytic lesions) of the NI causes derangements in fear conditioning.