Anxiety, depression & depression
Many psychiatric illnesses are depression- or anxiety-related disorders. Behavioral tests with rodents are crucial to get insights on the underlying mechanisms and eventually find new treatments. A majority of studies utilize mazes such as the elevated plus maze, zero maze, or open field, to investigate rat or mice behavior. Discover more with these blog posts and publications on our Behavioral Research Blog.
Antidepressants during pregnancy: effects on offspring social behavior
Many depressed women struggle with this: can I use antidepressants during pregnancy? The lab of Jocelien Olivier studies the effects of SSRI's on offspring behavior in an animal model.
Depressed with a failing reward system: social stress disrupts brain waves
Chronic social stress has a huge impact on well-being. Gamma oscillations have been found to be an electrophysiological link between social stress and reward processing.
Is a unique calcium regulating mechanism a cause of Gulf War Illness?
Gulf War Illness (GWI) is potentially caused by organophosphate exposure. Through behavioral experiments, using a DFP rat model, researchers tested levetiracetam as a potential cure.
About unexpected results: predator odor excites mice
The temperature of the tail and eyes of rodents is indicative of their emotional state. What would be the effect of a specific predator cue?
How to characterize behavioral phenotypes in a behavioral analysis facility
Introducing the Behavioral Analysis Facility. Researchers evaluate the behavioral and functional activities of new pharmacological drugs using diverse functional tests. Learn more about their recent projects.
Freeze! A recent study on PTSD and the immune system
It is pretty well-known that stress and anxiety have an effect on the immune system. This can be a real problem, especially in psychiatric disorders.
Revealing the secret social role of the CA2 hippocampus
Aggressive behavior is adaptive for most species. But how is this aggressive behavior mediated in the brain? A recent study indicates that the hippocampus is a crucial neural component in mediating social recognition.
A new method to evaluate if dogs are suitable for IED bomb detection
Margaret Gruen and her colleagues recently investigated a new method to assess sound induced fear and anxiety in candidate IED-detection dogs – specifically, Labrador retrievers.
Zinc deficiency, depression and electrical signals in the brain
Depression has a dramatic effect on quality of life because it results in a persistent low mood that is accompanied by a low self-esteem and a loss of interest in things that give pleasure.
Fearful chicken: Fear affects stress, behavior patterns, and other individuals
Elske de Haas, Ph.D. studied the effects of fearfulness on the chickens' own behavior and physiology, but also what it did to other individuals.