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Psychology

Virginia Commonwealth University

Theses and Dissertations

Theses/Dissertations

Schizophrenia

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Behavioral Phenotyping Of Vmat1 Knockout Mice: Relevance To Neuropsychiatric Disorders, Kevin A. Webster Ph.D. Jan 2016

Behavioral Phenotyping Of Vmat1 Knockout Mice: Relevance To Neuropsychiatric Disorders, Kevin A. Webster Ph.D.

Theses and Dissertations

Schizophrenia is a debilitating mental disorder that causes a large economic burden and is prevalent across all cultures and countries around the world. Although both environmental factors and genetics are known to play an important role in the etiology of schizophrenia, the exact role of genetics and its interaction with environmental factors in an individual’s predisposition to develop schizophrenia is poorly understood. Schizophrenia is characterized by symptoms that include positive symptoms (e.g. delusions, hallucinations, disorganized thinking and speech), negative symptoms (e.g. avolition, anhedonia, depressive-like behavior), and cognitive dysfunctions (e.g. executive functioning deficits in learning and memory, attention, and vigilance). Genomic …


Behavioral Phenotyping Of The Discriminative Stimulus Properties Of The Atypical Antipsychotic Drug Clozapine In 129s2/Hsv Mice, Kevin Webster Jul 2012

Behavioral Phenotyping Of The Discriminative Stimulus Properties Of The Atypical Antipsychotic Drug Clozapine In 129s2/Hsv Mice, Kevin Webster

Theses and Dissertations

The 129S2 inbred mouse strain is often used as a background strain in the production of genetically altered mice (i.e. knockout and transgenic mice). It is important to establish the behavioral phenotype of wild-type mice before making comparisons to genetically altered mice. Also, those comparisons can assist in the evaluation and interpretation of the in vivo effects of drugs. The drug discrimination assay measures the subjective effects of drugs and provides a measure of underlying neuropharmacological mechanisms responsible for the discriminative stimulus properties of drugs. The present study established the atypical antipsychotic drug clozapine as a discriminative stimulus in male …


Examination Of The Discriminative Stimulus And Cross-Tolerance Inducing Properties Of N-Desmethylclozapine In C57bl/6 Mice., Jason Wiebelhaus Apr 2009

Examination Of The Discriminative Stimulus And Cross-Tolerance Inducing Properties Of N-Desmethylclozapine In C57bl/6 Mice., Jason Wiebelhaus

Theses and Dissertations

Due to its unique receptor binding profile and its relationship to clozapine, N-desmethylclozapine (NDMC) has been examined as a possible antipsychotic drug (APD). Clozapine has been trained as discriminative stimulus in our lab, but NDMC has not yet been established as a discriminative stimulus. In experiment 1, 12 C57BL/6 mice were trained to discriminate 10.0 mg/kg NDMC from VEH using a standard-two lever operant procedure to assess antipsychotic substitution. The typical APD clozapine fully substituted for NDMC at 2 doses tested (2.5 and 5.0 mg/kg), while typical APD haloperidol failed to substitute for NDMC. In Experiment 2, 11 mice were …


A Comparison Of The Discriminative Stimulus Properties Of The Atypical Antipsychotic Clozapine And The Glutamate Agonist N-Methyl D-Aspartate In C57bl/6 Mice., Sarah A. Vunck Apr 2009

A Comparison Of The Discriminative Stimulus Properties Of The Atypical Antipsychotic Clozapine And The Glutamate Agonist N-Methyl D-Aspartate In C57bl/6 Mice., Sarah A. Vunck

Theses and Dissertations

The glutamate system dysfunctions present in schizophrenia raise new questions about possible glutamatergic actions of the atypical antipsychotic clozapine. While clozapine has been shown to partially substitute for the discriminative stimulus of the glutamate agonist N-methyl D-aspartate (NMDA) in rats, NMDA discrimination has not previously been established in mice. The present study was designed to explore the possible role of NMDA activity in clozapine’s discriminative stimulus. Two groups of C57BL/6 mice were trained to discriminate either 2.5 mg/kg CLZ from vehicle or 30 mg/kg NMDA from vehicle in a standard two-lever drug discrimination task. NMDA drug discrimination was successfully established …


The Effects Of Early Postnatal Pcp Administration On Performance In Locomotor Activity, Reference Memory, And Working Memory Tasks In C57bl/6 Mice, Alan L. Pehrson Jan 2007

The Effects Of Early Postnatal Pcp Administration On Performance In Locomotor Activity, Reference Memory, And Working Memory Tasks In C57bl/6 Mice, Alan L. Pehrson

Theses and Dissertations

There is a growing consensus, based on several converging lines of evidence, which suggests schizophrenia is the product of a developmental insult occurring in the late 2 nd or early 3 rd trimester. Additionally, it has been observed that adults who abuse the noncompetitive NMDA antagonist PCP present with symptoms that mimic schizophrenia, such as hallucinations, formal thought disorder, delusions, unstable or flattened affect, social withdrawal, and impaired cognition. Thus, several labs have attempted to use early postnatal PCP administration in rodents as a drug model of schizophrenia. The current study investigated the cognitive effects of early postnatal PCP administration …


The Discriminative Stimulus Properties Of The Atypical Antipsychotic Clozapine In C57bl/6 Mice, Scott D. Philibin Jan 2006

The Discriminative Stimulus Properties Of The Atypical Antipsychotic Clozapine In C57bl/6 Mice, Scott D. Philibin

Theses and Dissertations

Serotonin and α1 adrenergic receptor antagonism may contribute to atypical antipsychotic drug effects. Clozapine (2.5 mg/kg) drug discrimination in C57BL/6 mice may selectively screen atypical antipsychotic drugs. Previous data show that the atypical antipsychotics olanzapine, risperidone, ziprasidone but not the typical antipsychotic haloperidol fully substitutes for clozapine. The present study demonstrated that the atypical antipsychotics quetiapine, sertindole, zotepine, iloperidone, melperone fully substituted for clozapine but aripiprazole did not. The typical antipsychotics fluphenazine and perphenazine failed to fully substitute for clozapine but chlorpromazine and thioridazine fully substituted for clozapine. This model does not differentiate between atypical and typical antipsychotic drugs but …