dementia-symptoms-following-surgery

Dementia symptoms following surgery

This week we have a guest post by Iris Hovens. She has done some really interesting research into the consequences of surgery in terms of reduced memory and concentration problems.
mice-in-the-spotlight

Mice in the spotlight: why you should perform your tests in a home cage

Mouse models are essential for neuroscience research. Many tests are susceptible to bias. Home cage testing provides a number of solutions.
ginkgo-biloba-alzheimers

How Ginkgo biloba helps treat Alzheimer’s

Xu Liu and colleagues recently investigated the effects of Ginkgo biloba extract on a mouse model for Alzheimer’s disease (AD).
inhibitory-avoidance-learning-zebrafish

Inhibitory avoidance learning in zebrafish (Danio rerio)

The zebrafish (Danio rerio) is increasingly being used as model in behavioural, neurobiological and genetic research.
behavioral-effects-laboratory-rearing

Measuring behavioral effects of laboratory rearing on starlings

Rearing animals specifically for behavioral research is a very common practice. However, the results from behavioral studies with laboratory animals should be interpreted with care.
top-5-novel-object-recognition-articles

Top 5 novel object recognition articles

Novel object recognition is one of the most commonly used behavioral tests on laboratory rodents. It is also easily automated with video tracking software. Want to know how?
zebrafish-behavioral-differences

Zebrafish research: behavioral differences between wild-type strains

Often in animal research, animals with a certain genetic alteration are compared to a “wild-type”. One might assume that there is no differences between wild-types, but many different strains of wild-type animals are used.
cognitive-impairment-cranial-radiation

Connects some dots - cognitive impairment and cranial radiation

On a yearly basis, an estimated 20.000 individuals are diagnosed with primary brain tumors in the United States alone. About ten times that number of patients will receive treatment for primary or metastatic brain cancer.
object-recognition-automated-video-tracking

How to get reliable results on object recognition using video tracking

In the beginning of this year I wrote a post about the Morris water maze test, a popular and well-validated paradigm to study learning and memory in rats and mice.
optogenetics-and-operant-conditioning

Optogenetics and operant conditioning

A great example of optogenetics in behavioral studies is the work of Dr. Kravitz and Dr. Kreitzer at the Kreitzer lab (currently, Kravitz works at the NIDDK in Bethesda). Let me tell you about it.