Ace Therapeutics has an advanced animal R&D platform for psychiatric diseases. The advanced equipment and experienced testing team of this platform enable us to provide customers with a variety of behavioral tests related to addicts. We are committed to providing clients with a variety of classic, customized addiction-related behavioral tests to support their research on the mechanism of addiction.

Introduction of Addiction Behavior Tests

Drug addiction is a neuropsychiatric disorder with severe personal consequences and a huge impact on the global economy. Creating better preclinical models of drug addiction and testing addictive behaviors is critical to elucidating the neurobiological mechanisms that drive addiction-related behaviors and creating better treatment options for addicted individuals.

Fig. 1 Animal Models of Addiction. (Fuchs RA, et al., 2019)

Addiction Behavior Testing Services

Ace Therapeutics can provide a variety of behavioral tests related to addiction. We mainly customize the test plan according to the research goals of customers, and design the best research models and evaluation tools. We offer a variety of addictive behavior testing services, including but not limited to:

• Locomotor Sensitization Test

Exercise sensitization is a common behavioral test model of addictive disease in rodents, where we administer drugs on consecutive or alternating days and record locomotor activity and other behavioral measures. Stimulants increase motor activity for several days when given the same dose of the drug, which is called sensitization. In addition, aimless, repetitive movements may also be associated with drug sensitization. All substances associated with addictive disorders in humans affect locomotor activity at appropriate doses. We use the EthoVision XT 12.0 Body Recognition Module to analyze digital videos of animal behavior to help researchers assess drug addiction potential.

• Conditioned Place Preference Test

We can test the rewarding or aversive properties of an experience or a stimulus through CPP. The test associates experience (such as non-casual drug delivery) with a recognizable environment, usually a chamber with clear cues that the animal can recognize. At the same time, animals were also exposed to different neutral environments. After the first phase of pretreatment to establish that the animal has no innate preference for one of the environments, the acquisition phase consists of pairing the drug with one of the environments. Pairing can be achieved after single or multiple exposures, depending on drug dose or temporal exposure. During the test day or post-conditioning phase, animals were allowed to freely explore the environment. We investigate the rewarding and aversive effects of drugs by analyzing an animal's preference for location with this test.

• Runway Test

The Runway Test begins in the start compartment, where animals learn to traverse a 6-foot linear corridor (runway) to the goal compartment, where a reward is delivered. Food-deprived animals were trained to enter the goal area to eat food pellets prior to drug exposure. Subsequently, access to the goal area was associated with drug delivery. Running time, the time it takes the trained animal to reach the target compartment, is a consequence of approach and avoidance behavior and is interpreted as a motivation/aversion index for the reward.

Ace Therapeutics offers a variety of custom behavioral tests to detect addiction in animals. We are committed to providing our clients with a full range of animal behavioral testing services for psychiatric disease research, including protocol evaluation, execution and data analysis services, to accelerate their innovative research projects in related fields.

Reference

1. Fuchs RA, Higginbotham JA, Hansen EJ. Animal Models of Addiction. Neural Mechanisms of Addiction. 2019,3–22.