Puneet Kumar Bansal

Protective effect of Agomelatine on Traumatic Brain Injury induced cognitive deficit in Rats: Possible role of Neurotransmitters

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is the leading cause of death and disability among children and young adults worldwide. These patients often have short and long term cognitive, behavioral and emotional impairments. The 5-HT2C and melatonin receptors are known to have involvement in memory functions. The aim of the present study is to find the beneficial effect of agomelatine (selective 5HT2C antagonist and melatonin receptor agonist) against weight drop induced traumatic brain injury in rats. The weight-drop model closely mimics the real life TBI. Injury was induced by dropping a weight of 450 gm from a height of 1 meter through a hollow metallic tube onto the exposed skull of rats under anesthesia. After 14 days of TBI the agomelatine (10, 20, and 40 mg/kg p.o. daily) treatment was given for next 14 days (i.e. till 28 th

Animal Models of Traumatic Brain Injury

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is defined as the damage to the brain as a result of mechanical forces like crush, violent blow, or jolt to the head from blunt or penetrating object into the skull like a bullet or a sharp object. TBI may or may not alter the consciousness of person, but it is one of the leading factors responsible for impairment of cognitive ability or physical functioning. It is well depicted in clinical reports that around 10 million of deaths and hospitalizations annually are directly attributable to TBI. Head injuries are mainly of two types, i.e., primary head injury is an injury sustained by the brain at the time of impact, e.g., brain laceration, brain contusion whereas secondary head injury may be delayed neuronal damage or cell loss over a period of hours, days, weeks, or months. This injury involves biochemical and molecular changes in the distant tissues lead to secondary injuries (such as hypoxia, hypotension, seizures, or repeated TBI).

Animal Models of Tardive Dyskinesia

Today we are in an era of utmost modernization; technology used in medical science says hats off to human mind. We have left no pebbles unturned in discovering human “BRAIN.” Researchers have gone deep into lobes then whether its physiology of brain or vast anatomical features. Irrespective of all the laurels attained in it, there is no suitable treatment for some of the CNS disorders, for which patients are paying its cost with their lives. One such example is of schizophrenia from which tardive dyskinesia (TD) occurs as a side effect. Throwing some light on the preclinical work done on TD, a review is presented to put together the toxic agents causing TD. Hoping it could prove fruitful in a process of attenuation or abolition of TD. Schizophrenia was conceived by Eugen Bleuler in 1950. It has its onset during puberty and lasts throughout life. Neuroleptics are universally prescribed psychotropic drugs for schizophrenia from which TD emerged as side effect.

Behavioral Tests for Rodent Models

The “rotarod” technique was originated by N.W. Dunham and T.S. Miya and has proved to be of great value in preclinical research in testing of drugs which affect motor coordination. The rotarod test is a performance-based test on long cylindrical rotating rod with forced motor activity being applied, usually by rodents. This test measures parameters such as latency to fall (in seconds). This test is used to evaluate balance, grip strength, and motor coordination of the rodents, especially during testing of experimental drugs in animal models of movement disorders or after traumatic brain injury.

Euthanasia Procedure Used in Experimental Laboratory

The word euthanasia is basically derived from the two ancient Greek words: “eu” means good, and “thanatos” means death. This word is generally used to demonstrate killing animal in a way that minimizes or eliminates pain and distress. A good death is equivalent to the humane termination of an animal’s life. It is a well-accepted and recommended procedure in all aspects of veterinary medicine and scientific experiments involving animals.

Animal Models of Sleep Disorder

Sleep is a complicated neurological disorder on the conduct of the animals characterized by using altered consciousness with diminished sensory response. The primary feature of sleep is to provide rest and restore the body’s energy levels. The duration and pattern of sleep varies considerably among individuals. Age has an important effect on quantity and depth of sleep, and it is recognized as an architecture cyclic process. The sleep cycle characterized by different phases flowed by awake, dozing, unequivocal sleep, deep sleep transitions, cerebral sleep, paradoxical sleep. The changes in normal sleep behavior affected by environmental or psychological parameters are leading causes of sleep disorder. According to American Academy of Sleep Medicine (2014), sleep disorders (Somnipathy) are classified into insomnia, dyssomnias, parasomnias, circadian rhythm sleep disorders involving the timing of sleep, and other disorders including ones caused by medical or psychological conditions and sleeping sickness. Sleep issues especially arise due to alterations in the quality, quantity, and pattern of sleep (Cappuccio et al. 2010). Sleep disorders cover a huge spectrum of diseases such as inability to sleep at the desired time, excessive daytime sleepiness, abnormal movements or behavior during sleep. Sleep disorders also include sleep apnea (stops in breathing during sleep), narcolepsy and hypersomnia (excessive sleepiness at in appropriate times), cataplexy (sudden and transient loss of muscle tone while awake), sleeping sickness (disruption of sleep cycle due to infection), sleepwalking, night terrors, and bed wetting.

Animal Models of Schizophrenia

Schizophrenia is a devastating mental sickness that impairs intellectual and social functioning and generally leads to the progress of comorbid illnesses. Schizophrenia is a syndrome: a set of indicators and signs of unknown etiology, predominantly defined by found signs of psychosis. In its most common type, schizophrenia grants with paranoid delusions and auditory hallucinations late in adolescence or in early maturity. These manifestations of the sickness have transformed little during the last century. Moreover, to these ‘constructive’ symptoms, schizophrenics also exhibit ‘bad’ and ‘cognitive’ symptoms.

Animal Models of Parkinson’s Disease

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is late-onset, progressive neurodegenerative, and hypokinetic movement disorder characterized by relatively selective degeneration of nigrostriatal dopaminergic neurons and presence of fibrillar cytoplasmic inclusions containing α-synuclein and ubiquitin. Major pathological features of PD include degeneration of dopaminergic neurons coupled with fibrillar intracytoplasmic inclusions known as Lewy bodies, and these Lewy bodies are also found in the hypothalamus, cranial nerve motor nuclei, locus coeruleus, nucleus basalis, cerebral cortex, and central and peripheral components of the ANS. PD is presented with four primary motor manifestations: tremor at rest, rigidity, bradykinesia (or slowing of movement), and postural instability. Initially, not all patients present with all of the classic signs of PD, there may be only one or two and non-motor symptoms includes neuropsychiatric disturbances (i.e., depression, anxiety, and dementia), cognitive impairment, sleep disturbances or hallucinations, autonomic dysfunctions, fatigue, apathy, and orthostatic hypotension. It is estimated that approximately 5–10% of cases are occur or happened due to inheritable genetic mutation. The remaining 90% of newly diagnosed PD cases are of idiopathic origin. PD is a second most common age related neurodegenerative disease after Alzheimer’s disease. PD is thought to affect more than 1 million people in the USA alone, 1 of every 100 individuals, beyond the age of 55 suffered with disease. The prevalence of PD is also increases with age, affecting about 1–2% adults above the age of 60 years and 4% of above the age of 80 years.

Animal Models of Migraine

Migraine is defined as a multifactorial and episodic disorder which features unilateral, hemicranial, throbbing headache often accompanied by nausea and vomiting and aggravated by movement, sound, and light. Migraine has two major clinical subtypes: migraine without and with aura. One-third of patients with migraine experience aura, that is, transient focal neurological symptoms like sensory or motor deficits. Migraine is a chronic and disabling disorder of the brain that affects up to 15% of the population worldwide. It has a devastating consequence on the quality of a patient life and is estimated to cost

Animal Models of Depression and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

19.6 billion and €27 billion in the USA and Europe per year, respectively.