Development and characterization of an automated behavioral assessment platform for the Göttingen minipig.

Autor: Langston JL; Pharmaceutical Sciences Department, Medical Toxicology Research Division, United States Army Medical Research Institute of Chemical Defense (USAMRICD), Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD, USA., Myers TM; Pharmaceutical Sciences Department, Medical Toxicology Research Division, United States Army Medical Research Institute of Chemical Defense (USAMRICD), Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD, USA. Electronic address: Todd.M.Myers14.civ@health.mil.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: Toxicology letters [Toxicol Lett] 2024 Apr; Vol. 394, pp. 128-137. Date of Electronic Publication: 2024 Feb 28.
DOI: 10.1016/j.toxlet.2024.02.009
Abstrakt: The Göttingen minipig is fast becoming the standard for assessing dermal chemical hazards because, like most swine, its skin is predictive of human skin response and because this strain's smaller size makes laboratory manipulations and husbandry easier. Unfortunately, standard behavioral tests and apparatus have not been developed for behavioral assessments of this swine strain. Indeed, computer-controlled automated behavioral testing procedures are much needed. The present research advanced this goal by producing a home-cage behavioral testing system that could accommodate minipigs of various sizes (ages). An aluminum frame housed three levers for recording operant responses, and LEDs above and below each lever served as discriminative stimuli. A commercially available food pellet dispenser was attached to a specialized pellet receptacle capable of measuring pellet retrieval. Two behavioral tests were selected and adapted from our commonly used non-human primate behavioral assessments: delayed match-to-sample (a memory test) and temporal response differentiation (a time-estimation test). Minipigs were capable of learning both tests and attaining stable performance. Next, scopolamine was used to validate the sensitivity of the behavioral tests for gauging behavioral perturbations in this swine strain. Scopolamine dose-effect functions were comparable to those observed in other species, including non-human primates, wherein 37.5 µg/kg of scopolamine (administered intramuscularly) reduced responding approximately 50%. Thus, we were successful in developing the apparatus and automated operant behavioral tests necessary to characterize drug safety in this swine strain. This capability will be valuable for characterizing chemical agent toxicity as well as the safety and efficacy of medical countermeasures.
Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests: Todd M. Myers reports financial support was provided by Defense Threat Reduction Agency – Joint Science & Technology Office. Todd M. Myers reports a relationship with Defense Threat Reduction Agency – Joint Science & Technology Office that includes: funding grants. Todd M. Myers has patent #U. S. Provisional Patent No. 63/541,309 pending to United States Government. Jeffrey L. Langston has patent #U. S. Provisional Patent No. 63/541,309 pending to United States Government. NONE If there are other authors, they declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
(Published by Elsevier B.V.)
Databáze: MEDLINE
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