BEHAVIORAL PHENOTYPING OF THE DISCRIMINATIVE STIMULUS PROPERTIES OF THE ATYPICAL ANTIPSYCHOTIC DRUG CLOZAPINE IN 129S2/HSV MICE

• Main Author: Webster, Kevin
• Format: Others
• Published: VCU Scholars Compass 2012
• Subjects: Schizophrenia; Drug Discrimination; Atypical Antipsychotic; Clozapine; Behavioral phenotyping; 129S2; C57BL/6; DBA; Psychology; Social and Behavioral Sciences
• Online Access: http://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/etd/2833; http://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3832&context=etd

The 129S2 inbred mouse strain is often used as a background strain in the production of genetically altered mice (i.e. knockout and transgenic mice). It is important to establish the behavioral phenotype of wild-type mice before making comparisons to genetically altered mice. Also, those comparisons can assist in the evaluation and interpretation of the in vivo effects of drugs. The drug discrimination assay measures the subjective effects of drugs and provides a measure of underlying neuropharmacological mechanisms responsible for the discriminative stimulus properties of drugs. The present study established the atypical antipsychotic drug clozapine as a discriminative stimulus in male 129S2 inbred mice and compared clozapine’s discriminative stimulus properties in 129S2 mice to C57BL/6 and DBA/2 inbred mice. By comparing the discriminative stimulus properties between inbred strains of mice we hope to obtain a fuller picture of the underlying neuropharmacological mechanisms of antipsychotic drugs.