{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,3]],"date-time":"2026-10-03T02:37:39Z","timestamp":1790995059567,"version":"4.1.0"},"reference-count":54,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"10","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2024,5,18]],"date-time":"2024-05-18T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1715990400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"the Intramural Research Program of the National Institutes of Health National Institute on Drug Abuse"},{"name":"the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Nutrients"],"abstract":"<jats:p>In the process of validating the elevated zero maze, a common test of anxiety-like behavior, in our laboratory, we demonstrated an anxiolytic-like effect of castor oil and its primary component, ricinoleic acid. We tested the effects of vehicle and chlordiazepoxide in male mice in the elevated zero maze following a 30-min pretreatment time. Chlordiazepoxide is a United States Food and Drug Administration-approved drug that was previously shown to exert anxiolytic-like effects in both the elevated zero maze and elevated plus maze. Chlordiazepoxide was administered at doses of 5 or 10 mg\/kg. We used 5% polyoxyl 35 castor oil (Kolliphor\u00ae EL) and saline as treatment vehicles and found that the effect of chlordiazepoxide on open zone occupancy and open zone entries was blunted when 5% Kolliphor was used as the vehicle. These tests demonstrated that chlordiazepoxide increased open zone occupancy and entries in the elevated zero maze more effectively when saline was used as the treatment vehicle and that Kolliphor dampened the anxiolytic-like effect of chlordiazepoxide when it was used as the treatment vehicle. Notably, 5% Kolliphor alone slightly increased baseline open zone occupancy and entries. Given that Kolliphor is a derivative of castor oil, we next tested the effect of 5% castor oil and 5% ricinoleic acid, which is a major component of castor oil. We found that both castor oil and ricinoleic acid increased open zone occupancy but not entries compared with saline. Altogether, our findings demonstrate that Kolliphor, castor oil, and ricinoleic acid may exert anxiolytic-like effects in male mice in the elevated zero maze. This potential anxiolytic-like effect of castor oil is consistent with its well-established beneficial effects, including anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, antifungal, and pain-relieving properties.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/nu16101527","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2024,5,20]],"date-time":"2024-05-20T03:36:42Z","timestamp":1716176202000},"page":"1527","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":6,"title":["Indulging Curiosity: Preliminary Evidence of an Anxiolytic-like Effect of Castor Oil and Ricinoleic Acid"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"16","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0009-7978-8147","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Khalin E.","family":"Nisbett","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Graduate Program in Neuroscience, Graduate College, University of Illinois Chicago, Chicago, IL 60607, USA"},{"name":"Stress and Addiction Neuroscience Unit, Integrative Neuroscience Research Branch, National Institute on Drug Abuse Intramural Research Program and National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism Division of Intramural Clinical and Biological Research, National Institutes of Health, Baltimore, MD 21224, USA"},{"name":"Neurobiology of Addiction Section, Integrative Neuroscience Research Branch, National Institute on Drug Abuse Intramural Research Program, National Institutes of Health, Baltimore, MD 21224, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-8829-8627","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Leandro F.","family":"Vendruscolo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Stress and Addiction Neuroscience Unit, Integrative Neuroscience Research Branch, National Institute on Drug Abuse Intramural Research Program and National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism Division of Intramural Clinical and Biological Research, National Institutes of Health, Baltimore, MD 21224, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"George F.","family":"Koob","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Neurobiology of Addiction Section, Integrative Neuroscience Research Branch, National Institute on Drug Abuse Intramural Research Program, National Institutes of Health, Baltimore, MD 21224, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2024,5,18]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"GBD Mental Disorders Collaborators (2022). 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