Models & Assays

Operant tests provide an opportunity to challenge rodents in very specific ways, including, but not limited to, tests to examine specific cognitive domains. Furthermore because animals are typically well trained in these tasks, baseline performance can be tightly controlled and performance becomes predictable. Thus, effects of NCEs can be evaluated against a robust baseline. Transpharmation has considerable experience in multiple operant procedures including those to examine motivation (e.g. progressive ratio), behavioral flexibility (e.g., reversal learning) and response inhibition (e.g., Differential Low Rates of Reinforcement (DRL), Go-NoGo). Through the use of a flexible system and relevant proven research experience, Transpharmation has the capability to conduct multiple schedules tailored to suit client needs.

Separate groups of adult rats were trained to stable performance levels in the DRL24s task and a signaled Go-NoGo successive discrimination task. In the DRL24s task, vehicle treated rats had peak responding around 24s consistent with accurate temporal discrimination. Dizocilpine (0.03mg/kg s.c.) produced a leftward shift in this response curve. In the Go-NoGo task, in vehicle treated animals, >90% responding was made during the S+ (i.e., Go) phase. Dizocilpine (0.03-0.06mg/kg s.c.) increased responding during the S- (i.e. NoGo) phase, such that only ~75% responding was during the S+ phase. Both tests highlight deficiencies in response control of rats following dizocilpine treatment.