Methods of Behavior Analysis in Neuroscience by Buccafusco, Jerry J.;

Short description:

A comprehensive reference for the most well-studied behavioral approaches in animal subjects, this book examines disease effects and therapeutic treatments. The second edition features material on the relevance of transgenic mouse models for Alzheimer’s disease, behavioral methods for assessing the cognitive impairment associated with major psychotic disorders, the revival of the scopolamine reversal model for assessing the clinical relevance of new AD drugs, and new approaches for assessing cognitive impairment in aged mice. Each chapter presents theoretical background, methodology, and data interpretation.

Long description:

Behavioral techniques used in animals to model human diseases and predict effects of novel drugs are as varied as the numbers of scientists who use them. Consequently, behavioral analysis is becoming an increasingly indispensable tool for the neuroscientist as information gained at the molecular and cellular level is put into practice in fully behaving animal subjects.

Uses Animal Behavior Models to Examine Effects of Therapeutic Treatments on Human Cognition

With contributions from more than 40 field specialists, Methods of Behavioral Analysis in Neuroscience reflects six years worth of updates to its first bestselling edition and elucidates new behavioral approaches that are quickly becoming field standards. This edition features new material on the relevance of transgenic mouse models for Alzheimer’s disease, behavioral methods for assessing the cognitive impairment associated with major psychotic disorders, the revival of the scopolamine reversal model for assessing the clinical relevance of AD drugs, and approaches to assessing cognitive impairment in aged mice.

Each chapter presents theoretical background, methodology, and data interpretation, and many chapters include real-world examples of experiments that incorporate the models. With step-by-step, easy-to-reproduce methodologies, this sharply focused work covers well-studied behavioral approaches that provide a better understanding of the effects of disease and allow for better predictability of the effects of therapeutic treatments on the human cognition. It takes the guesswork out of designing the methodology for many of the most widely used animal behavioral approaches developed for the study of brain disorders, drug abuse, toxicology, and cognitive drug development.

Table of Contents:

Transgenic Mouse Models of Alzheimer’s Disease: Behavioral Testing and Considerations. Cued and Contextual Fear Conditioning for Rodents. Drug Discrimination. Conditioned Place Preference. Anxiety-Related Behaviors in Mice. Behavioral Assessment of Antidepressant Activity in Rodents. Assessing Attention in Rodents. The Behavioral Assessment of Sensorimotor Processes in the Mouse: Acoustic Startle, Sensory Gating, Locomotor Activity, Rotarod, and Beam Walking. Intravenous Drug Self-Administration in Nonhuman Primates. Contextually Induced Drug Seeking During Protracted Abstinence in Rats. Operant Analysis of Fronto-striatal Function in Rodents. Working Memory: Delayed Response Tasks in Monkeys. Spatial Navigation (Water Maze) Tasks. Water Maze Tasks in Mice: Special Reference to Alzheimer’s Transgenic Mice. Behavioral Neuroscience of Zebrafish. Caenorhabditis elegans Model for Initial Screening and Mechanistic Evaluation of Potential New Drugs for Aging and Alzheimer’s Disease. The Revival of Scopolamine Reversal for the Assessment of Cognition-Enhancing Drugs. Index.