Central Nervous System Techniques

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Intracerebral microdialysis

• Protocol options 
• Assay capabilities 

Culex Bambino

Enables simultaneous performance in freely-moving rats of:

• Intracerebral microdialysis 
• Drug Metabolism and Pharmacokinetics (DPMK) 
• Behavioural monitoring 

Behavioural testing

• Abuse liability testing
  - drug discrimination
  - locomotor activity (amphetamine-, apomorphine, PCP-induced)
  - self-administration (in development)
  - head-twitches
  - physical dependence / withdrawal
  - a range of models suitable for psychostimulants, hallucinogens and euphoriants
• Cognition
  - novel object recognition
  - morris water maze 
• Psychosis
  - locomotor activity (amphetamine-, apomorphine, PCP-induced)
  - climbing behaviour (apomorphine)
  - stereotypy / catalepsy
  - neuroleptic-induced weight gain
  - prepulse inhibition (in development)
  - conditioned avoidance responding (in development)
• Neurotransmitter-specific behavioural models 

Non-surgical intracerebroventricular injection

• Behavioural monitoring 
• Lesioning

Neurochemistry

• Neurochemical phenotyping
• HPLC analysis of neurotransmitters and metabolites 
• 3H monoamine uptake and release
• Radioligand receptor assay development

Image analysis

Immunohistochemistry / Immunocytochemistry

• Immunohistological processing of brain tissue by paraffin wax embedding or freezing

Other in vivo techniques

• Continuous drug infusion using osmotic minipumps (central or peripheral)
• DMPK
• Neurotoxin lesion models
  – 6-OHDA
  – DSP-4