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Oeur RA, Palaniswamy M, Ha M, Fernandez-Corazza M, Margulies SS. Regional variations distinguish auditory from visual evoked potentials in healthy 4 week old piglets. Physiol Meas 2023; 44:025006. [PMID: 36657178 PMCID: PMC9972182 DOI: 10.1088/1361-6579/acb4da] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/08/2022] [Accepted: 01/19/2023] [Indexed: 01/21/2023]
Abstract
Objective.Evoked potentials (EP), measured using electroencephalographic (EEG) recordings provide an opportunity to monitor cognitive dysfunctions after neurological diseases or traumatic brain injury (TBI). The 4 week old piglet is an established model of paediatric TBI; therefore, healthy piglets were studied to establish feasibility of obtaining responses to auditory and visual stimuli. A secondary aim was to input the EEG data into a piglet computational model to localize the brain sources related to processing. We tested the hypotheses: (1) visual, auditory-standard, and auditory-target stimuli elicit responses, (2) there is an effect of stimulus type, day tested, and electrode region on EPs from EEG, (3) there is an effect of stimulus type, day tested, and brain region on localized sources from a computational model.Approach.Eleven 4 week old female piglets were fitted with a 32-electrode net and presented with a simple white light stimulus and an auditory oddball click train (70 standard; 30 target tones).Main results.N1 andP2 amplitudes were consistently observed for all stimulus types. Significant interaction effects between brain region and stimulus for EP and current density demonstrate that cognitive responses are specific to each modality with auditory localizing to the temporal region and visual to the occipital regions. There was a day effect where larger responses were found on the first day than day 2 and 3 and may be due to the novelty of the stimulus on the first day. Visual stimuli had largerP1 amplitudes and earlier latencies (P1,N1) than auditory which coincides with current density results at 50 ms where larger activations were observed for visual. At 85 ms, auditory had significantly larger current densities coincident with larger and longerN1 amplitudes and latencies than visual.Significance.Auditory and visual processing were successfully and consistently obtained in a porcine model and can be evaluated as a diagnostic assessment for TBI.
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Affiliation(s)
- R Anna Oeur
- Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering, Emory University and Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia, United States of America
| | - Maduran Palaniswamy
- Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering, Emory University and Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia, United States of America
| | - Matthew Ha
- Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering, Emory University and Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia, United States of America
| | - Mariano Fernandez-Corazza
- LEICI Instituto de Investigaciones en Electrónica, Control y Procesamiento de Señales, Facultad de Ingeniería, Universidad Nacional de La Plata, Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Susan S Margulies
- Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering, Emory University and Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia, United States of America,Author to whom any correspondence should be addressed
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Hoareau GL, Peters A, Hilgart D, Iversen M, Clark G, Zabriskie M, Rieke V, Floyd C, Shah L. Feasibility of non-invasive recording of somatosensory evoked potential in pigs. Lab Anim Res 2022; 38:9. [PMID: 35331342 PMCID: PMC8943992 DOI: 10.1186/s42826-022-00118-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/13/2021] [Accepted: 03/12/2022] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Non-invasive measurement of somatosensory-evoked potentials (SEP) in a large animal model is important to translational cognitive research. We sought to develop a methodology for neurophysiological recording via a transcranial electroencephalography (EEG) cap under an effective sedative regimen with dexmedetomidine, midazolam, and butorphanol that will produce sedation instead of anesthesia while not compromising data quality. RESULTS Pigs received intramuscular dexmedetomidine, midazolam, and butorphanol for SEP assessment with peroneal nerve stimulation. Semi-quantitative sedation assessment was performed after the animal was sufficiently sedated and 30 min later, during the transcranial SEP recording. SEP data were analyzed with commercial software. Binary qualitative analysis of the recording was categorized by an experienced neurophysiologist. All four animals had adequate surface SEP recordings. Animals received 43 [21-47] mcg/kg of dexmedetomidine, 0.3 [0.2-0.3] mg/kg of midazolam, and 0.3 [0.3-0.3] mg/kg of butorphanol IM. All treatments resulted in moderate to deep sedation (Baseline median sedation score 11.5 [11-12]; median score at 30 min: 11.5 [10.5-12]). Heart rate (median [range]) (55 [49-71] beats per minute), respiratory rate (24 [21-30] breaths per minute), and hemoglobin oxygen saturation (99 [98-100]%) and body temperature (37.7 [37.4-37.9] °C) remained within clinically acceptable ranges. There were no undesirable recovery incidents. CONCLUSIONS In this pilot study, we demonstrate the feasibility of SEP recording via a transcranial EEG cap under an effective sedative regimen in pigs. Our approach will expand the use of a large animal model in neurotranslational research.
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Affiliation(s)
- Guillaume L Hoareau
- Emergency Medicine, Department of Surgery, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA.
| | - Angela Peters
- Department of Neurology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA
| | - David Hilgart
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA
| | - Marta Iversen
- Department of Radiology and Imaging Sciences, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA
| | - Gregory Clark
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA
| | - Matthew Zabriskie
- Department of Radiology and Imaging Sciences, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA
| | - Viola Rieke
- Department of Radiology and Imaging Sciences, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA
| | - Candace Floyd
- Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA
| | - Lubdha Shah
- Department of Radiology and Imaging Sciences, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA
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Oeur RA, Margulies SS. Target detection in healthy 4-week old piglets from a passive two-tone auditory oddball paradigm. BMC Neurosci 2020; 21:52. [PMID: 33287727 PMCID: PMC7720395 DOI: 10.1186/s12868-020-00601-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/29/2020] [Revised: 11/06/2020] [Accepted: 11/16/2020] [Indexed: 01/29/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Passive auditory oddball tests are effort independent assessments that evaluate auditory processing and are suitable for paediatric patient groups. Our goal was to develop a two-tone auditory oddball test protocol and use this clinical assessment in an immature large animal model. Event-related potentials captured middle latency P1, N1, and P2 responses in 4-week old (N = 16, female) piglets using a custom piglet 32- electrode array on 3 non-consecutive days. The effect of target tone frequency (250 Hz and 4000 Hz) on middle latency responses were tested in a subset of animals. RESULTS Results show that infrequent target tone pulses elicit greater N1 amplitudes than frequent standard tone pulses. There was no effect of day. Electrodes covering the front of the head tend to elicit greater waveform responses. P2 amplitudes increased for higher frequency target tones (4000 Hz) than the regular 1000 Hz target tones (p < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS Two-tone auditory oddball tests produced consistent responses day-to-day. This clinical assessment was successful in the immature large animal model.
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Affiliation(s)
- R Anna Oeur
- Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering, Emory University, 615 Michael St. Suite 655, Atlanta, GA, USA
| | - Susan S Margulies
- Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering, Emory University, 615 Michael St. Suite 655, Atlanta, GA, USA.
- Emory University, Health Sciences Research Building 1760 Haygood Drive, Suite W242, 30322, Atlanta, Georgia.
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Atagun MI, Drukker M, Hall MH, Altun IK, Tatli SZ, Guloksuz S, van Os J, van Amelsvoort T. Meta-analysis of auditory P50 sensory gating in schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Psychiatry Res Neuroimaging 2020; 300:111078. [PMID: 32361172 DOI: 10.1016/j.pscychresns.2020.111078] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/08/2019] [Revised: 03/16/2020] [Accepted: 03/19/2020] [Indexed: 11/15/2022]
Abstract
The ability of the brain to reduce the amount of trivial or redundant sensory inputs is called gating function. Dysfunction of sensory gating may lead to cognitive fragmentation and poor real-world functioning. The auditory dual-click paradigm is a pertinent neurophysiological measure of sensory gating function. This meta-analysis aimed to examine the subcomponents of abnormal P50 waveforms in bipolar disorder and schizophrenia to assess P50 sensory gating deficits and examine effects of diagnoses, illness states (first-episode psychosis vs. schizophrenia, remission vs. episodes in bipolar disorder), and treatment status (medication-free vs. medicated). Literature search of PubMed between Jan 1st 1980 and March 31st 2019 identified 2091 records for schizophrenia, 362 for bipolar disorder. 115 studies in schizophrenia (4932 patients), 16 in bipolar disorder (975 patients) and 10 in first-degree relatives (848 subjects) met the inclusion criteria. P50 sensory gating ratio (S2/S1) and S1-S2 difference were significantly altered in schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and their first-degree relatives. First-episode psychosis did not differ from schizophrenia, however episodes altered P50 sensory gating in bipolar disorder. Medications improve P50 sensory gating alterations in schizophrenia significantly and at trend level in bipolar disorder. Future studies should examine longitudinal course of P50 sensory gating in schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.
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Affiliation(s)
- Murat Ilhan Atagun
- Department of Psychiatry, Ankara Yildirim Beyazit University Medical School, Universities Region, Ihsan Dogramaci Boulevard. No: 6, Bilkent, Cankaya, Ankara Turkey.
| | - Marjan Drukker
- Department of Psychiatry and Neuropsychology, Maastricht University School for Mental Health and Neuroscience, Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences, Maastricht, the Netherlands
| | - Mei Hua Hall
- Psychosis Neurobiology Laboratory, Harvard Medical School, McLean Hospital, Belmont, Massachusetts, USA
| | - Ilkay Keles Altun
- Department of Psychiatry, Bursa Higher Education Training and Education Hospital, Bursa, Turkey
| | | | - Sinan Guloksuz
- Department of Psychiatry and Neuropsychology, Maastricht University School for Mental Health and Neuroscience, Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences, Maastricht, the Netherlands; Department of Psychiatry, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA
| | - Jim van Os
- Department of Psychiatry and Neuropsychology, Maastricht University School for Mental Health and Neuroscience, Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences, Maastricht, the Netherlands; King's Health Partners Department of Psychosis Studies, King's College London, Institute of Psychiatry, London, United Kingdom; Department of Psychiatry, Brain Centre Rudolf Magnus, University Medical Centre Utrecht, Utrecht, the Netherlands
| | - Thérèse van Amelsvoort
- Department of Psychiatry and Neuropsychology, Maastricht University School for Mental Health and Neuroscience, Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences, Maastricht, the Netherlands
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Anderson NC, Thomovsky SA, Lucas JR, Kushiro-Banker T, Radcliffe JS, Stewart KR, Lay DC. Auditory brainstem responses in weaning pigs and three ages of sows. Transl Anim Sci 2019; 3:1416-1422. [PMID: 32704906 PMCID: PMC7200588 DOI: 10.1093/tas/txz123] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/18/2019] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Piglet crushing is a devastating welfare concern on swine farms; however, some sows appear unresponsive to a piglet’s call. Sow hearing ability is rarely considered despite the extensive body of research performed on crushing. In this study, pigs of four age groups (weaning, n = 7; gilts, n = 5; 2nd and 3rd parity, n = 5; 5th parity and up, n = 5) were anesthetized and auditory brainstem responses (ABRs) were performed to measure if pig hearing diminishes with age in a mechanically ventilated barn. Before testing, pigs were placed in a sound dampening box. ABRs were performed on animals using 1,000 clicks at two decibel (dB) levels: 90 and 127 dB sound pressure level. Latencies and amplitudes of waves I–V were measured and interpeak latencies for waves I–III, III–V, and I–V were calculated. Five pigs (three 2nd and 3rd parity, and two 5th parity and above) had no detectable waves at either decibel. Sows in 2nd and 3rd parities had very few distinguishable waves, with only wave I and II present in two sows. Amplitudes of waves I and V increased with increased dB (P < 0.001). Increasing dB decreased the latency of each of the recorded waves (P < 0.01). The vast majority of commercial swine are raised in noisy barn environments; it is possible that these environments directly affect the ability for pigs to hear and normal hearing development in this population of animals. Hearing has a significant effect on swine welfare as hearing is integral to successful animal handing and during moments of animal-to-animal communication. Hearing is a considerable welfare issue on farms and ways to decrease pig hearing loss should be considered.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Jeffrey R Lucas
- Department of Biology, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN
| | | | | | - Kara R Stewart
- Department of Animal Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN
| | - Donald C Lay
- Livestock Behavior Research Unit, Agricultural Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture, West Lafayette, IN
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Hajiaghamemar M, Seidi M, Oeur RA, Margulies SS. Toward development of clinically translatable diagnostic and prognostic metrics of traumatic brain injury using animal models: A review and a look forward. Exp Neurol 2019; 318:101-123. [PMID: 31055005 PMCID: PMC6612432 DOI: 10.1016/j.expneurol.2019.04.019] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/29/2018] [Revised: 04/11/2019] [Accepted: 04/30/2019] [Indexed: 12/11/2022]
Abstract
Traumatic brain injury is a leading cause of cognitive and behavioral deficits in children in the US each year. There is an increasing interest in both clinical and pre-clinical studies to discover biomarkers to accurately diagnose traumatic brain injury (TBI), predict its outcomes, and monitor its progression especially in the developing brain. In humans, the heterogeneity of TBI in terms of clinical presentation, injury causation, and mechanism has contributed to the many challenges associated with finding unifying diagnosis, treatment, and management practices. In addition, findings from adult human research may have little application to pediatric TBI, as age and maturation levels affect the injury biomechanics and neurophysiological consequences of injury. Animal models of TBI are vital to address the variability and heterogeneity of TBI seen in human by isolating the causation and mechanism of injury in reproducible manner. However, a gap between the pre-clinical findings and clinical applications remains in TBI research today. To take a step toward bridging this gap, we reviewed several potential TBI tools such as biofluid biomarkers, electroencephalography (EEG), actigraphy, eye responses, and balance that have been explored in both clinical and pre-clinical studies and have shown potential diagnostic, prognostic, or monitoring utility for TBI. Each of these tools measures specific deficits following TBI, is easily accessible, non/minimally invasive, and is potentially highly translatable between animals and human outcomes because they involve effort-independent and non-verbal tasks. Especially conspicuous is the fact that these biomarkers and techniques can be tailored for infants and toddlers. However, translation of preclinical outcomes to clinical applications of these tools necessitates addressing several challenges. Among the challenges are the heterogeneity of clinical TBI, age dependency of some of the biomarkers, different brain structure, life span, and possible variation between temporal profiles of biomarkers in human and animals. Conducting parallel clinical and pre-clinical research, in addition to the integration of findings across species from several pre-clinical models to generate a spectrum of TBI mechanisms and severities is a path toward overcoming some of these challenges. This effort is possible through large scale collaborative research and data sharing across multiple centers. In addition, TBI causes dynamic deficits in multiple domains, and thus, a panel of biomarkers combining these measures to consider different deficits is more promising than a single biomarker for TBI. In this review, each of these tools are presented along with the clinical and pre-clinical findings, advantages, challenges and prospects of translating the pre-clinical knowledge into the human clinical setting.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marzieh Hajiaghamemar
- Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA.
| | - Morteza Seidi
- Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA
| | - R Anna Oeur
- Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA
| | - Susan S Margulies
- Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA
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Atlan LS, Lan IS, Smith C, Margulies SS. Changes in event-related potential functional networks predict traumatic brain injury in piglets. Clin Biomech (Bristol, Avon) 2019; 64:14-21. [PMID: 29933967 PMCID: PMC6274597 DOI: 10.1016/j.clinbiomech.2018.05.013] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/30/2017] [Revised: 04/19/2018] [Accepted: 05/21/2018] [Indexed: 02/07/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Traumatic brain injury is a leading cause of cognitive and behavioral deficits in children in the US each year. None of the current diagnostic tools, such as quantitative cognitive and balance tests, have been validated to identify mild traumatic brain injury in infants, adults and animals. In this preliminary study, we report a novel, quantitative tool that has the potential to quickly and reliably diagnose traumatic brain injury and which can track the state of the brain during recovery across multiple ages and species. METHODS Using 32 scalp electrodes, we recorded involuntary auditory event-related potentials from 22 awake four-week-old piglets one day before and one, four, and seven days after two different injury types (diffuse and focal) or sham. From these recordings, we generated event-related potential functional networks and assessed whether the patterns of the observed changes in these networks could distinguish brain-injured piglets from non-injured. FINDINGS Piglet brains exhibited significant changes after injury, as evaluated by five network metrics. The injury prediction algorithm developed from our analysis of the changes in the event-related potentials functional networks ultimately produced a tool with 82% predictive accuracy. INTERPRETATION This novel approach is the first application of auditory event-related potential functional networks to the prediction of traumatic brain injury. The resulting tool is a robust, objective and predictive method that offers promise for detecting mild traumatic brain injury, in particular because collecting event-related potentials data is noninvasive and inexpensive.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lorre S. Atlan
- Department of Bioengineering, University of Pennsylvania, 210 S. 33 St., 240 Skirkanich Hall, Philadelphia, PA 19104-6321, U.S.A
| | - Ingrid S. Lan
- Department of Bioengineering, University of Pennsylvania, 210 S. 33 St., 240 Skirkanich Hall, Philadelphia, PA 19104-6321, U.S.A
| | - Colin Smith
- Academic Department of Neuropathology, Centre for Clinical Brain Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK
| | - Susan S. Margulies
- Department of Bioengineering, University of Pennsylvania, 210 S. 33 St., 240 Skirkanich Hall, Philadelphia, PA 19104-6321, U.S.A
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Schomberg DT, Miranpuri GS, Chopra A, Patel K, Meudt JJ, Tellez A, Resnick DK, Shanmuganayagam D. Translational Relevance of Swine Models of Spinal Cord Injury. J Neurotrauma 2017; 34:541-551. [DOI: 10.1089/neu.2016.4567] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Dominic T. Schomberg
- Biomedical and Genomic Research Group, Department of Animal Sciences, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Wisconsin
| | - Gurwattan S. Miranpuri
- Department of Neurological Surgery, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, Madison, Wisconsin
| | - Abhishek Chopra
- Department of Neurological Surgery, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, Madison, Wisconsin
| | - Kush Patel
- Department of Neurological Surgery, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, Madison, Wisconsin
| | - Jennifer J. Meudt
- Biomedical and Genomic Research Group, Department of Animal Sciences, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Wisconsin
| | | | - Daniel K. Resnick
- Department of Neurological Surgery, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, Madison, Wisconsin
| | - Dhanansayan Shanmuganayagam
- Biomedical and Genomic Research Group, Department of Animal Sciences, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Wisconsin
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Kulikov VA, Khotskin NV, Nikitin SV, Lankin VS, Kulikov AV, Trapezov OV. Application of 3-D imaging sensor for tracking minipigs in the open field test. J Neurosci Methods 2014; 235:219-25. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jneumeth.2014.07.012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 33] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/09/2014] [Revised: 07/16/2014] [Accepted: 07/16/2014] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
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Leiser SC, Dunlop J, Bowlby MR, Devilbiss DM. Aligning strategies for using EEG as a surrogate biomarker: A review of preclinical and clinical research. Biochem Pharmacol 2011; 81:1408-21. [DOI: 10.1016/j.bcp.2010.10.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 96] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/12/2010] [Revised: 10/01/2010] [Accepted: 10/01/2010] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
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Lind NM, Moustgaard A, Jelsing J, Vajta G, Cumming P, Hansen AK. The use of pigs in neuroscience: Modeling brain disorders. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2007; 31:728-51. [PMID: 17445892 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2007.02.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 365] [Impact Index Per Article: 21.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/27/2006] [Revised: 02/05/2007] [Accepted: 02/18/2007] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
Abstract
The use of pigs in neuroscience research has increased in the past decade, which has seen broader recognition of the potential of pigs as an animal for experimental modeling of human brain disorders. The volume of available background data concerning pig brain anatomy and neurochemistry has increased considerably in recent years. The pig brain, which is gyrencephalic, resembles the human brain more in anatomy, growth and development than do the brains of commonly used small laboratory animals. The size of the pig brain permits the identification of cortical and subcortical structures by imaging techniques. Furthermore, the pig is an increasingly popular laboratory animal for transgenic manipulations of neural genes. The present paper focuses on evaluating the potential for modeling symptoms, phenomena or constructs of human brain diseases in pigs, the neuropsychiatric disorders in particular. Important practical and ethical aspects of the use of pigs as an experimental animal as pertaining to relevant in vivo experimental brain techniques are reviewed. Finally, current knowledge of aspects of behavioral processes including learning and memory are reviewed so as to complete the summary of the status of pigs as a species suitable for experimental models of diverse human brain disorders.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nanna Marie Lind
- Department of Experimental Medicine, University of Copenhagen, Panum Institute, Blegdamsvej 3B, Copenhagen N, Denmark.
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Lind NM, Vinther M, Hemmingsen RP, Hansen AK. Validation of a digital video tracking system for recording pig locomotor behaviour. J Neurosci Methods 2005; 143:123-32. [PMID: 15814144 DOI: 10.1016/j.jneumeth.2004.09.019] [Citation(s) in RCA: 76] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/06/2004] [Revised: 09/22/2004] [Accepted: 09/29/2004] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
Abstract
We are introducing a system for automatically tracking pig locomotor behaviour. Transposing methods for the video-based tracking of rodent behaviour engenders several problems. We have therefore improved existing methods, based on image-subtraction, to offer increased flexibility and accuracy in tracking large-sized animals in situations with a constantly changing background. The improved tracking algorithms introduce a reference frame, which does not include the animal and is automatically updated, and implementation of an automatic threshold detection algorithm. This makes the system more robust to the tracking environment, which could even be of the same colour as the animal, and allows the tracking environment to change during recording. We validated the system by estimating the repeatability, accuracy, and basic noise level, and tested the system in different levels of animal activity evoked by administration of apomorphine (APO) to minipigs in an open field test. Seven pigs each received the vehicle and three doses of APO (0.05, 0.1, and 0.3 mg/kg i.m.), and the locomotor behaviour of each session was recorded for 60-min. The calculated coefficient of repeatability was 0.6%, indicating high repeatability and the basic noise level of the tracking system was estimated to be 2%. Administration of the two lowest doses of APO was accompanied by increased locomotor activity of the pigs. Thus, this digital video-based tracking system for automatically tracking the spontaneous locomotor behaviour of pigs is highly reliable and accurate, and was able to detect well-known effects of APO in pig locomotor activity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nanna M Lind
- Division of Laboratory Animal Science and Welfare, Department of Veterinary Pathobiology, The Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University, Frederiksberg, Denmark.
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