Week 10 Tutorial

Question 1

What contexts are animal models used in?

Answer 1

Pharmaceutical companies
Functional genomics
Basic research

Question 2

What happens to a rat’s behaviour when given (THC) cannabis?

Answer 2

More relaxed, flattened body posture

Question 3

Does the hot plate test cause damage to the rat?

Answer 3

Only leave the rat on for about 60 seconds to stop tissue damage

Question 4

What happens when THC rat is placed on hot plate?

Answer 4

Stay on the hot plate much longer than sober rat before showing a pain response

Question 5

What does the bar test assess?

Answer 5

Catalepsy

Question 6

What drugs produce catalepsy in rats?

Answer 6

THC, morphine

Question 7

What does the elevated plus maze test assess?

Answer 7

Common test of anxiety

Exploits the rat’s natural fear of open spaces

Question 8

What does an anti-anxiety (anxiolytic) drug typically do to rat’s behaviour when they are placed in the elevated plus maze?

Answer 8

Librium treated rat spends more of its time in the open arms of the maze compared to the placebo

Question 9

Why might testing high doses of alcohol or benzodiazepines on the plus maze be problematic?

Answer 9

The rats could fall off the ledge if they have too much of these drugs

Question 10

What is stereotypy?

Answer 10

Repetitive, stereotyped and seemingly purposeless behaviours induced by high doses or repeated doses of stimulant drugs

Question 11

What is stereotypy associated with?

Answer 11

Hyperdopaminergic state in the dorsal and ventral striatum and is often caused by behavioural and neurochemical sensitisation

Question 12

Describe the effects of high dose amphetamine on behaviour

Answer 12

More motor activity compared to sober rat

Stereotyped behaviour: heightened alertness, repetitive sniffing behaviour

Question 13

What kind of drug can be given to block stereotypy induced by amphetamines?

Answer 13

Dopamine antagonist

Question 14

What was the difference between pure THC and THC + cannabidiol?

Answer 14

pure THC leads to more depressive state: agitation, suspicion

Question 15

What might be the effect of smoking marijuana that’s been bred to contain high THC?

Answer 15

Increase in psychotic episodes and anxiety

Question 16

What 2 purposes does reuptake serve?

Answer 16

To terminate the action of the neurotransmitter

To recycle the neurotransmitter

Question 17

What do all major neurotransmitters have?

Answer 17

Transporter proteins

Question 18

What happens when drugs bind to transporter proteins?

Answer 18

Inhibit the reuptake of neurotransmitter into the terminal

Make the transporter work in reverse

Question 19

Name some drugs that work on transporter proteins

Answer 19

cocaine, amphetamine, MDMA

Question 20

What happens when enzymes are affected by drugs?

Answer 20

Inhibit the enzymes involved in degradation of neurotransmitters

Question 21

What is an important enzyme involved in degradation?

Answer 21

Monoamine oxidase (MAO)

Present in 2 forms:
MAO-A = metabolises serotonin
MAO-B: metabolises dopamine

Question 22

What drugs inhibit MAO?

Answer 22

amphetamine and MDMA

Question 23

What is a MAO inhibitor?

Answer 23

The antidepressant, moclobemide

Question 24

What happens when a drug binds directly at the receptor?

Answer 24

Evokes a functional change to the neuron (agonist)

Prevents change from occurring (antagonist)

Question 25

Give examples of agonists

Answer 25

THC, nicotine, heroin