animal models of human brain function

Question 1

as aninals cannot communicate verbally, assumptions must be made about how theyre feeling based on behaviour. What are the 4 main behaviuoral models??

Answer 1

memory and learning
anxiety
depression
addiction
(caution needed in this interpretiation)

Question 2

what are the main differences between human and mouse brains

Answer 2

-cerebral cortex in human brain is more complex, highly folded
-however, mouse brains lower structure is more conserved (similar)

Question 3

animals should only be used in research when what 4 situations occur?

Answer 3

*No valid alternative
*Potential benefit outweighs harm
*Uses minimum number of animals possible
*Refine procedure to minimize suffering

Question 4

what are the 3 Rs reffered to in animal testing

Answer 4

refine, reduce, repleace

Question 5

what are the 6 advanatages of animal testing/research

Answer 5

-genetically idenetical populations, (knockin/out)
-detect side effects
-controlled environement
-manipulation of animals possible, not ethical with humans
-selective breeding to produce animal model disease state
-allows study of disease progression -> post mortem study

Question 6

what are the 3 disadvanatages of animal testing/research

Answer 6

-expensive/unpleasant
-how applicable are animal models to humans
-ethical concideration

Question 7

what are the 3 disadvanatages of animal testing/research

Answer 7

-expensive/unpleasant
-how applicable are animal models to humans
-ethical concideration

Question 8

when interpreting results in animal reserach, what 5 things must you be careful of that could affect results

Answer 8

*Changes in attention
*Changes in motivation
*Consolidation of memory
*Retrieval of memory
*Other factors e.g. locomotion changes etc

Question 9

what are the 4 animal tests for learning and memory

Answer 9

-Radial Arm Maze
-Morris water maze
-Delayed – Response test
-Operant Conditioning

Question 10

what is spatial memory?

Answer 10

a cognitive process that enables a person to remember different locations as well as spatial relations between objects

Question 11

which animal test test spatial memory

Answer 11

morris water maze

Question 12

what is a skinner box and what aninimal test is it used for?

Answer 12

operant conditioning box/skinner box
used for operant conditioning test, where a rodent in trained to press a lever in return for a reward(food), can be used to measure addictive potential of a drug

Question 13

what are the 4 animal tests for anxiety?

Answer 13

1. Light – dark crossing box
2. Open field test
3. Elevated plus maze
4. Geller Seifter Conflict Test

Question 14

what are the 2 parameters measured when conducting an elevated plus maze test?
and why are both of these needed to be measured?

Answer 14

-number of entries into the arms
-total time spent in each arm
-both must be recorded to account for ‘freezing behaviour’

Question 15

what are the 3 animal tests for depression?

Answer 15

-forced swim test
-sucrose preference test
-negative affective bias test

Question 16

what is anhedonia

Answer 16

Anhedonia refers to the reduced ability to experience pleasure

Question 17

what is a translational assay in reference to animal testing?

Answer 17

measuring a behaviour in an animal and then extrapolating to humans

Question 18

which animal test for depression can be used to test the identify the effect of a novel drug, e.g. if a new antidepressant makes animal ‘happier’

Answer 18

cognitive affective bias (negative affective bias)