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tail-flick test
measures response of the animal to heat applied to the tail
hot plate test
latency to respond to a thermal stimulus applied to paws » time it takes the mouse to lick the hind paw, vocalize, or jump from surface
analgesia
reduction of perceived pain without loss of consciousness
radial arm maze (RAM)
hungry rat allowed to explore, food bait at end of each arm
learn to visit each arm only once on a given day
must remember which arms were visited previously
external visual cues as guides
sensitive to hippocampal lesions
morris water maze
opaque circular pool of water, external visual cues as guides
sensitive to hippocampal lesions
barnes maze
external visual cues as guides
no swimming involved (unnatural behavior for rodents)
delayed response test
food is placed in selected well, covered and revealed, animal must choose the correct well
working memory, sensitive to PFC lesions
anxiety test: open field, elevated plus maze, elevated zero maze, light/dark
a natural conflict situation occurs when a rodent is exposed to an unfamiliar environment
anxiolytic drugs increase these behaviors, anxiogenic drugs decrease these behaviors:
time in center of open field
time spent in open arms of mazes
time spent in light
pre-pulse inhibition (PPI)
schizophrenia and ASD patients exhibit impaired PPI
impairments in sensorimotor gating: ability to distinguish between stimuli and filter out uneccesary inputs
inappropriate thoughts, hallucinations, sensory experiences, etc
inter cranial self-stimulation (ICSS)
animal self-administers a weak electric current to brain reward areas
threshold: current value at which animal continually self-administers
conditioned place preference (CPP)
conditioned association between drug effect and environment
drug discrimination testing
animal learns to discriminate between drug and saline based on internal cues produced by the drug
optogenetics
insertion of genes into neurons that confer light responsiveness to control events within these neurons
used in freely behaving animalsi
implanted microelectrodes
implanted into a single cell (intracellular recording) OR
into the extracellular fluid near a single cell (extracellular recording)
in vivo microdialysis
measure neurotransmitter release in specific brain region while subject is actively engaged in a behavior
“soup” method (quantification)
tissue sample is isolated and ground (homogenate)
number of receptors in brain region and affinity for drugs
“slice” methods (spatial localization)
uses intact slice of tissue
visualize distribution of receptors in the brain
positron emission tomography (PET)
maps distribution of radioactively labeled substance, used to determine location of drugs
locates areas of brain activity when person is performing cognitive tasks
functional MRI (fMRI)
oxygenated hemoglobin has a different magnetic resonance signal than oxygen-depleted hemoglobin
active brain cells need more O2 » blood flow increases
transgenic mice
human genes inserted into mice
models for neurodegenerative diseases
knockout mice
lack gene for making a particular protein
constitutive (germ-line), site-specific (ire-lox) or inducible (tet on/off)
knock-in mice
point mutations target a single nucleotide to produce a single a.a. substitution
may produce loss or gain of function
study of a specific mutation
knockdown mice
RNAi mice
allows assessment of lowered levels of gene product
might be more valid representation of the human condition than KO
