All available animal models of schizophrenia fit into four different induction categories: developmental, drug-induced, lesion or genetic manipulation. At Creative Biolabs, we utilize two most commonly used and validated drug-induced models of schizophrenia, coupled with an array of behavioral tasks, to evaluate the therapeutic efficacy of novel antipsychotics and neuroprotective agents.
Introduction of Schizophrenia
Schizophrenia is a chronic, debilitating disorder that affects approximately 1% of the world's population. Symptoms cluster into three categories: positive (including auditory and visual hallucinations, delusions, conceptual disorganization and thought disorder), negative (emotional blunting, social withdrawal, anhedonia, avolition, poverty of thought and content of speech) and cognitive dysfunction (including impaired executive function, working memory and attention). The etiology of schizophrenia stays doubtful, but studies have shown that both genetic and environmental factors are implicated in the development of this disease.
The primary treatment of schizophrenia is antipsychotic medications, often in combination with psychological and social supports. However, the first-generation and the second-generation of antipsychotics were developed to treat the positive symptoms of schizophrenia, the negative, and in particular, the cognitive impairments, remain resistant to treatment with current antipsychotics. Consequently, there is an urgent need to develop novel compounds that demonstrate increased efficacy against cognitive dysfunction and negative symptoms.
Creative Biolabs offers CRO services with extensive expertise in the following inducible models of schizophrenia to our clients:
Chronic or acute administration of PCP produces a wide range of schizophrenia-relevant behaviors in rodents, such as hyperlocomotion, deficits in pre-pulse inhibition (PPI) and latent inhibition, social withdrawal, and impairment in performance on several animal cognition tasks, including set shifting, novel object recognition, spatial learning, and so on. Moreover, this model of schizophrenia induces features that are similar to both negative and positive symptoms, as well as the cognitive deficits of schizophrenia.
Indirect dopamine agonists, such as amphetamine, are widely used to induce a transient central hyperdopaminergia. In this model, acute administration of amphetamine in animals produces deficits in latent inhibition and PPI, which are well-established features of schizophrenia. Moreover, chronic administration of amphetamine induces more robust symptoms and animals display persistent deficits in some cognitive tasks relevant to schizophrenia. Biochemical and structural changes are induced in the brain as well. This model has reasonable validity and utility to study positive symptoms of schizophrenia.
The neurological platform of Creative Biolabs provides an extensive range of rodent neurological disease models. If you are interested, click the following links for more detailed description of each model:
As a leading CRO research partner for drug development, Creative Biolabs is committed to providing rapidly scheduled, accurate and cost-effective services to our clients. Moreover, we offer customized solutions by working with our clients to develop study-specific experimental protocols as well as new experimental models. If you're interested in our services, please contact us to discuss your specific requirements.
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