PSYC 373 Lab Report 1 PDF

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PSYC 373 Lab Report 3: Histology, neuropsychiatric disorders, and neurological diseases Introduction: Throughout this class, you have learned a great deal of information regarding single cells of the nervous system. We started out with neurons and glia and how action potentials are basis of neuronal communication. We then looked at structures as a whole in the brain and eyeball dissections. Now, we are focused on the “more” applied side of the class – that is, histology and behavioral neuroscience. Histology is the study of the cellular organization of body tissues and organs. Although we are primarily concerned with nervous tissue, you can perform various histological techniques on different tissues in the body (e.g. muscle, cardiac, the liver, etc.). There are various stains that can be used to answer your research question. Refer to the Histological Techniques PDF to read about different stains. Behavioral neuroscience is the study of the underlying biological mechanisms of normal and abnormal behavior – at most times, it is used to study neurological and neuropsychiatric disease states. Humans are extremely complex: we have history effects, cognitive and personality differences, different genetic backgrounds, and different social networks. It is very difficult to form causal relationships between a single factor and the onset of a psychiatric condition, but researchers can utilize animal models to simplify the relationship between a “cause” and an outcome (that is, a disease or disorder). The more factors, or manipulations, we add to the experiment, the more complicated the experiment becomes. What is manipulated in your experiment is called the independent variable. This could include drug manipulations, environmental manipulations, or genetic manipulations. For example, if you wish to test the effects of nicotine of anxiety levels in an open-field test, then you would give half your rats an injection of nicotine and half of your rats an injection of saline. You are manipulating exposure to nicotine. The dependent variable is the outcome of your experiment, or what you measure in a behavioral test. In our example, the dependent variable would be the ratio of time in seconds spent in the outside portions and the inner portion of the open-field test. These are specific measures! “Anxiety” is called a construct. You cannot directly measure “anxiety” because it is an underlying construct and has a lot of different components. For instance, there is a social component, a cognitive component, and a behavioral component to anxiety. In order to assess “anxiety”, you must directly measure your dependent variables and make inferences about the construct. For example, a rat may spend more time in the closed portions of the elevated zero maze, indicating that it is too anxious to wander out to the open portion of the maze. This specific behavior (the dependent variable) can be directly measured (time itself), but we cannot directly measure all of what encompasses “anxiety”.

Questions: Keep your answers brief but coherent (complete sentences please!) Do NOT copy straight from the PDFs or lectures. Write these in your own words, and/or use other sources (with proper citations) to help you answer the questions. 1. What is the study of histology, and why is it important to study? Histology is the study of how cells are organized in body tissues and organs. This is important to study because it can help you gain a better understanding of cell behavior, cell reproduction, and how the cell works. It also enables one to predict and understand the function and behavior of an organ.

2. Pick one stain that you find interesting. It may either be from the Histological Techniques PDF, the lecture, or from your own search on the Internet. Explain what the stain does (i.e. what it stains for), and provide a brief explanation on how to conduct this stain. Your answer should be no more than a paragraph (5 – 7 sentences). I found the Perl’s Prussian Blue interesting. I think more of because the way it looks is nice to the eye. This staining procedure is used to observe iron in tissue like liver, spleen, and lymph tissue. In order to conduct the stain, you need to place the tissue into hydrochloric acid. By doing so, it releases ferric iron ions from protein bound deposits. Then the tissue is placed in potassium ferrocyanide to combine with the iron, which turns it into a bright blue color.

3. What is the study of behavioral neuroscience, and why is it important to study? The study of behavioral neuroscience is the application of the principles of biology to the study of physiological, genetic, and developmental mechanisms of behaviors in humans and animals. It is important to study because it does research and addresses issue that our society faces. It is learned and then tried to be resolved.

4. Pick one behavioral measure (either covered in class or from your own search on the Internet). Explain what construct the test examines (e.g. forced-swim test looks at depression; conditioned place preference looks at addiction) and provide a brief description of how the test is conducted. Your answer should be no more than a paragraph (5 – 7 sentences). The forced swim test is used to measure depression. There are beakers full of water and in these beakers, mouse is place into the beaker. The mouse who constantly swims and tries to escape versus the mouse that has given up. The mouse that has given up supposedly has depression.

5. Explain in three sentences (and no more) what is an independent variable, a dependent variable, and a construct. An independent variable is something that can be changed and manipulated. A dependent variable is being measured or tested and depends on the independent variable. Conducting your own “experiment”: Using the “Lab Report 3 - Scenarios” document, you will read about four unique diseases/conditions and the supporting research that outlines their underlying biological correlates. At the end of each “scenario,” you will find a statement that provides a hypothetical assignment, as if you were to conduct a research experiment using animal models and tissue staining. Pick ONE of the four research scenarios to use for the following questions. You do not need to be super specific with the protocols, but you should provide enough information to explain how the animal model mimics the condition/disease, what the stain does, how both the stain and the behavioral test can help provide information about the condition/disease.

6. State the goal of conducting your experiment. What will your behavioral test accomplish? What will your histological technique accomplish?

7. Discuss how you will use a rodent to model the condition. What will be your independent variable that you can manipulate to generate your animal model? Will it be a genetic manipulation, an environmental manipulation, or a combination method? What specific dependent variables are measured in your behavioral test (i.e., time in seconds spent in a quadrant) are measured and what construct (anxiety, depression) are assessed?

8. How does your stain relate to your assigned disease/condition? LFB shows white matter in the nervous system

9. Discuss the validity of your experiment. Does it really model human behavior? Are the genetic/cellular/social/environmental underlying mechanisms that “cause” the disease the same in animals and in humans? Will treatments that work in animals work in humans as well, and vice-versa? Limit your response to one paragraph.

10. How can your results impact the scientific community? Why should the general population even care about this type of research? This can helpFamilies and friends of a loved one who has Alzheimer’s would care about this research since there is no cure yet....