Antisense targeting in behavioural neuroendocrinology

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
An animal's behaviour is regulated by multiple systems in which neuropeptides and their receptors play a crucial role (Landgraf 1995). Several strategies are available to determine the physiological involvement of neuropeptidergic pathways in behavioural regulation. One approach is to monitor release patterns into blood, cerebrospinal fluid or the extracellular fluid of distinct brain areas before, during and after a behavioural challenge. Although such measurements often remain in a more or less phenomenological stage in that they do not reveal any causal relationship to the behavioural performance of the animal, they generally provide valuable information about the brain pathways and areas involved. An alternative approach is to block, as selectively as possible, ligand-receptor interactions in a distinct brain area with receptor antagonists and then to measure behavioural consequences. Although this approach is certainly more physiological than, say, administration of the synthetic ligand, it bears certain risks which have to be acknowledged.

This publication has 0 references indexed in Scilit: