Brain research. Brain research protocols
-
Brain Res. Brain Res. Protoc. · Dec 2005
Episodic-like memory in mice: simultaneous assessment of object, place and temporal order memory.
Episodic memory refers to the conscious recollection of a unique past experience in terms of "what" happened and "where" and "when" it happened. Since deficits in episodic memory are found in a number of neuropsychiatric diseases, such as Alzheimer's disease, for which several pharmacological, lesion and genetic animal models are available, there is a need for animal models of episodic-like memory, which can be used to devise appropriate treatments. ⋯ Our results suggest that mice are able to (a) recognize previously explored objects, (b) remember the location in which particular objects were previously encountered and (c) discriminate the relative recency in which different objects were presented. We suggest that our protocol providing the simultaneous assessment of object memory for "what",-"where"-and-"when" in mice might be useful in the search for the neural substrates of episodic memory, the screening for promnestic drugs and the behavioral phenotyping of genetic models of neuropsychiatric diseases affecting episodic memory.
-
Brain Res. Brain Res. Protoc. · Aug 2002
An experimental system for a heterotopic pain stimulation study in humans.
So far heterotopic pain stimulation study has been performed in humans. Many studies have examined changes in subjective pain threshold and nociceptive somatic reflex. However, there are few studies using somatosensory evoked potentials (SEPs) for heterotopic pain stimulation study. ⋯ The preliminary experiment performed in eight healthy subjects indicated that the electrical test stimulation subsystem with the SEP recording subsystem is also very well indicated for subjective and objective pain evaluation, including VAS estimation and the amplitude of the SEP late component induced by electrical tooth stimulation. Under the experimental system in the present study, electrical median nerve stimulation as conditioning stimulation significantly decreased both the SEP amplitude induced by electrical tooth simulation and subjective pain expressed by the VAS. These results revealed that our experimental system works well and it is very suitable and useful for the study of the pain mechanism under heterotopic stimulation in humans.
-
Brain Res. Brain Res. Protoc. · Apr 2002
Anesthetic methods in rats determine outcome after experimental focal cerebral ischemia: mechanical ventilation is required to obtain controlled experimental conditions.
Anesthetic agents, pH, blood gases and blood pressure have all been found to influence the pathophysiology of experimental stroke. In experimental research, rats are predominantly used to investigate the effects of focal cerebral ischemia. Chloral hydrate, applied intraperitoneally (i.p.), and halothane, applied via face-mask in spontaneously breathing animals or via endotracheal tube in mechanically ventilated animals are popular methods of anesthesia. We investigated the potential of these anesthetic methods to maintain physiologic conditions during focal cerebral ischemia and their influence on postischemic mortality and histological outcome. ⋯ Intra- and postischemic physiologic parameters such as blood pressure, pH, and blood gases critically determine outcome after focal cerebral ischemia. Although anesthesia by halothane via face-mask allowed better control of depth of anesthesia than chloral hydrate, we have found this method to be unsatisfactory due to insufficient control of ventilation and waste of anesthetic gases. Experiments with rats requiring normal physiologic parameters should be performed under conditions of controlled mechanical ventilation and sufficient analgesia.
-
Brain Res. Brain Res. Protoc. · Feb 2002
Neurogenic bladder model for spinal cord injury: spinal cord microdialysis and chronic urodynamics.
We describe an animal model to study neurotransmitter changes in parallel with urodynamic testing following Spinal Cord Injury (SCI). Urodynamic access was achieved using a subcutaneously placed 7 French dual lumen portacatheter. Spinal cord injury was induced by weight drop technique onto exposed dura at T8. ⋯ Amino acid levels peaked at approximately 40 min following contusion injury with glycine demonstrating the highest levels of all amino acids measured. This neurogenic rat model provides a useful means of examining the effects of spinal cord injury on bladder function. By utilizing spinal cord microdialysis, one could intervene at the level of the detrusor nuclei to modulate bladder function.
-
Brain Res. Brain Res. Protoc. · Apr 2000
Methods to induce primary and secondary traumatic damage in organotypic hippocampal slice cultures.
Organotypic brain slice cultures have been used in a variety of studies on neurodegenerative processes [K. M. Abdel-Hamid, M. ⋯ Asseline, Effect of mild hypothermia on cerebral energy metabolism during the evolution of hypoxic ischaemic brain damage in the immature rat, Stroke, 5, 1996, pp. 919-925.]. Low temperature incubation significantly reduced cell death, now being 9% at 24 h and 14% at 67 h. Our results show that these models of moderate mechanical trauma using organotypic slice cultures can be used to study neurodegeneration and neuroprotective strategies.