en Behavioral Neuroscience Behavioral Neuroscience Original Original <p dir="ltr" style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Introduction:</strong> This study aimed to examine the effects of induced inflammatory tooth pain on anxiety&nbsp;level in adult male rats.<br> <strong>Methods:</strong> The mandibular incisors of 56 adult male rats were cut off and prefabricated crowns were&nbsp;fixed on the teeth. Formalin and capsaicin were injected intradentally to induce inflammatory tooth&nbsp;pain. Diazepam treated group received diazepam 30 minutes before intradental injection. The anxietyrelated&nbsp;behavior was evaluated with elevated plus maze test.<br> <strong>Results:</strong> Intradental application of chemical noxious stimuli, capsaicin and formalin, significantly&nbsp;affected nociceptive behaviors (P<0.001). Capsaicin (P<0.001) and formalin (P<0.01) significantly&nbsp;increased the anxiety levels in rats by decrease in the duration of time spent in open arm and increase&nbsp;in the duration of time spent in closed arm. Rats that received capsaicin made fewer open arm entries&nbsp;compared to the control animals (P<0.05). Capsaicin (P<0.001) and formalin (P<0.01) treated rats&nbsp;showed more stretch attend postures compared to the control and sham operated animals. In diazepampretreated<br> rats, capsaicin induced algesic effect was prevented (P<0.001).<br> <strong>Conclusion:</strong> Inflammatory pulpal pain has anxiogenic effect on rats, whereas diazepam premedication&nbsp;showed both anxiolytic and pain reducing effects.</p> Odontalgia, Capsaicin, Formalin, Diazepam, Anxiety, Elevated plus maze 259 268 http://bcn.iums.ac.ir/browse.php?a_code=A-10-774-1&slc_lang=en&sid=1 Maryam Raoof Maryam.raoof@gmail.com 1370031947532846007916 1370031947532846007916 No Oral and Dental Diseases Research Center, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran. Hamed Ebrahimnejad raoofm56@yahoo.com 1370031947532846007917 1370031947532846007917 Yes Department of Oral & Maxillofacial Radiology, Faculty of Dentistry, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran. Mehdi Abbasnejad Aeen9@yahoo.com 1370031947532846007918 1370031947532846007918 No Department of Biology, Faculty of Sciences, Shahid Bahonar University of Kerman, Kerman, Iran. Ladan Amirkhosravi lamirkhosravi@yahoo.com 1370031947532846007919 1370031947532846007919 No Laboratory of Molecular Neuroscience, Neuroscience Research Center, Institute of Neuropharmacology, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran. Ramin Raoof Raoof_Ramin@yahoo.com 1370031947532846007920 1370031947532846007920 No Laboratory of Molecular Neuroscience, Neuroscience Research Center, Institute of Neuropharmacology, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran. Saeed Esmaeili Mahani Semahani@yahoo.com 1370031947532846007921 1370031947532846007921 No Laboratory of Molecular Neuroscience, Neuroscience Research Center, Institute of Neuropharmacology, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran. Mohsen Ramazani m.ramazani@mazums.ac.ir 1370031947532846007922 1370031947532846007922 No Department of Endodontics, Faculty of Dentistry, Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences, Mazandaran, Iran. Noushin Shokouhinejad Shokouhinejad@yahoo.com 1370031947532846007923 1370031947532846007923 No Dental Research Center, Department of Endodontics, School of Dentistry, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. Mehrfam Khoshkhounejad mehr_nejad@yahoo.com 1370031947532846007924 1370031947532846007924 No Dental Research Center, Department of Endodontics, School of Dentistry, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.