Development of practical methodology and indicators for on-farm animal welfare assessment

163 p.

Analisis de las entidades no lucrativas del Pais Vasco dedicadas a la protección animal

This Final Project Grade, whose title is “Analysis of the non-lucrative entities of the Basque Country dedicated to animal protection”, has as main purpose the study of the historical, theoretical and legal context in which these institutions develop their activity, focusing in those which occur in the Basque Country.

Usage of substances and their dosage regimes in pharmacological animal models of schizophrenia

Background: Contrary to what is generally thought schizophrenia is a very common mental health issue. For this, several animal models are used to assess the illness in order to develop a definitive. The most widely spread paradigm is the use of pharmacological models. Aim: The aim of this review is to display which are the most used insults for the assessment of social behaviour related negative symptoms in animal models as well as to ascertain which is the most adequate regime. Design: Literature review. Methods: PubMed database was used for this article by the search of the indexed “schizophrenia”, “animal models”, “social behaviour” and “negative symptoms” descriptors. With the exception of a single article due to it value this review is based on articles from 10 years onwards. Besides, only clinical trials and reviews written in English or Spanish and that had laboratory rodents as target population were accepted. Results: The studies assessed agree that pharmacological models (specially those regarding the NMDA receptor antagonists) are a valuable means for the experimental investigation of negative symptoms in schizophrenia with the necessity to emphasise that only some negative symptoms (anhedonia and social interaction, mainly) can be experimentally assessed. Conclusions: There is not enough evidence regarding the fours aspects of this review. PCP, Ketamine or MK-801 in sub-acute dosage regimes are currently the most indicated insults to mimic schizophrenic symptoms in rodents, although further research in needed, albeit other substances are valuable as well. (In English language exclusively)