Jena Hales
  • Faculty, University of San Diego
Research fields
  • Neuroscience
Inducing Alcohol Dependence in Rats Using Chronic Intermittent Exposure to Alcohol Vapor
Authors:  Elizabeth M. Avegno and Nicholas W. Gilpin, date: 05/05/2019, view: 4660, Q&A: 0
Alcohol use disorder (AUD) is a significant public health and economic burden and is often characterized by repeated bouts of alcohol intoxication and withdrawal. Virtually all organ systems are impacted by chronic alcohol exposure. These effects can be investigated using the rat as a model organism; however, rats typically will not self-administer alcohol to levels necessary to achieve physiological and behavioral aspects of dependence. The protocol described herein can be utilized to induce alcohol dependence in rats by administering alcohol vapor to the homecage for an extended period of time. This method allows the researcher to control the level, duration, and pattern of intoxication, and it reliably induces physiological and behavioral aspects of alcohol dependence, allowing for the study of biology and behavior with relevance for AUD in humans.
The Traveling Salesman Problem (TSP): A Spatial Navigation Task for Rats
Author:  R. E. Blaser, date: 06/05/2018, view: 4597, Q&A: 0
The Traveling Salesman Problem (TSP) is a behavioral test used to measure the efficiency of spatial navigation. It is an optimization problem, in which a number of baited targets are placed in an arena, and as the subject travels between the targets, the route is recorded and compared to chance and optimal routes. The TSP is appealing for the study of learning, memory, and executive function in nonhuman animals because the memory requirements can easily be modified with minor adjustments to task parameters. In the standard version of the task, rats are initially pre-trained to forage for bait in the arena. Once the animals consistently retrieve the bait, they are tested with a set of novel target configurations, and their behavior is recorded. The videos are then scored to produce several measures of performance.
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