New Zealand Brain Research Institute, Christchurch, New Zealand.
Department of Medicine, University of Otago, Christchurch, New Zealand.
J Exp Anal Behav. 2022 May;117(3):560-575. doi: 10.1002/jeab.753. Epub 2022 Mar 23.
Rigorous behavioral analysis is essential to the translation of research conducted using animal models of neuropsychiatric disease. Here we discuss the use of operant paradigms within our lab as a powerful approach for exploring the biobehavioral bases of disease in the maternal immune activation rat model of schizophrenia. We have investigated a range of disease features in schizophrenia including abnormal perception of time, cognition, learning, motivation, and internal state (psychosis), providing complex insights into brain and behavior. Beyond simple phenotyping, implementing sophisticated operant procedures has been effective in delineating aspects of pathological behavior, identifying interacting pathologies, and isolating contributing mechanisms of disease. We provide comment on the strengths of operant techniques to support high-quality behavioral investigations in fundamental neuropsychiatric research.
严格的行为分析对于将使用神经精神疾病动物模型进行的研究转化为简体中文至关重要。在这里，我们讨论了在我们实验室中使用操作性范式作为一种强大方法，以探索精神分裂症母体免疫激活大鼠模型中疾病的生物行为基础。我们研究了精神分裂症的一系列疾病特征，包括对时间、认知、学习、动机和内部状态（精神病）的异常感知，为大脑和行为提供了复杂的见解。除了简单的表型分析外，实施复杂的操作性程序还可以有效地描述病理性行为的各个方面，确定相互作用的病理学，并分离疾病的致病机制。我们对操作性技术的优势进行了评论，以支持基础神经精神疾病研究中的高质量行为研究。
