Behavioral Pharmacology Lab Experiment - Article Example

Behavioral Pharmacology Lab Experiment ABSTRACT Behavioral pharmacology is a maturing science that focuses on drugs and human behavior. It is also referred to as psychopharmacology or neuropharmacology. Behavioral pharmacology seeks to check the behaviors of various organisms and come up with solutions for humans. Major drug in treatment of behavioral disorder contain Lithium Chloride (LiCl) and, so far, there are quite a number of successful cases. Notably, rats and guinea pigs are used as test subjects in most of medical tests and this experiment was in not exceptional. Researches carried out in behavioral psychology target mind altering drugs and their effects on the human behavior. This laboratory experiment focuses on various compounds’ effects to animal behavior. The two chemical compounds used were Lithium Chloride and Sodium chloride. The aim of the experiment was to assess the how the two compounds brought about an amplification of the innate fears and exploratory behavior in rats. . INTRODUCTION Lithium stands as a drug of choice in the treatment of psychological disorders. The drug is mostly applied in bipolar disorders such as acute mania. Other such disorders include diverse syndromes that tend to be characterized by recurrent, as well as, episodic symptoms (Sproule, 2009). The pharmacological mode of action of Lithium has been studied extensively using various models in the laboratory. Some of the methods look at the psychomotor activation, spontaneous activity, and many other activities that are dependent on the motor portion of the nervous system. The behavioral pharmacology test conducted was aimed at observing the effectiveness of Lithium chloride on the various specimens used and their response. The experiment used Lithium Chloride as the main ingredient and sodium chloride as the control solution. The main objective of the experiment was an observation of the effects of taking against not taking Lithium chloride and, on the other hand, taking sodium chloride. We used an open field apparatus from whence we could observe the behavior of the rat immediately after the injection with the drug. Hypothetically, the compound normally modifies the exploratory behavior, innate fears, and locomotive behaviors of rats and mice. The experiment was carried out to observe the truthfulness and effectiveness of the above mentioned objectives. METHODS AND MATERIALS Materials An open field apparatus was used to observe the effects of the drug on the rats. An Open Field Apparatus is a (4’x4’) enclosed box. The box has a viewing pane and requires one to place the rat on one side of the box as he or she monitors the movement of the rat inside the apparatus for a predetermined period of time. Method The rats were administered with 1% lithium chloride or sodium chloride solution an 85mgs/kg intraperitoneally (I.P) an hour (exactly) before the open field was performed. All animals were injected fifteen minutes apart. In determination of the amount of sodium chloride or lithium chloride to administer, the rats were weighed whereby the exact amounts of lithium and sodium chloride were determined. Based on the knowledge of what constitutes one percent of a solution, it was easy to pre-determine what amount to give, after all, the figure is dependent on weight. For instance, 1% contains one gram per 100 mls or 10mgs per 1ml. A 300 gram rat would require0.3 grams*85mgs=25.5mgs*10mgs/ml=2.55mlsof a 1% solution. The rat’s behavior was observed for ten minutes. The observation would be that of innate fear in the rats as they are placed in the center of the Open Field Apparatus. Notably, the observation would be whether the rat spends most of its times trying to hide along the walls, or, whether the innate fear dissipated such that it could come to the open and keep crisscrossing the Apparatus in the most natural way. The compounds may either increase this fear, or cause the rats to have a greater exploratory behavior. A table with the rat number, the compound injected, as well as, injection time and test time was filled up. For the ten minutes test duration, various parameters were recorded. These parameters are as follows: The number of times that the rat would enter the center of the field (that is; the center 4 tiles). The duration of time that the rat would spend in the center of the field (that is; the center four tiles). The number of times that the rat crossed the floor tile line (number of crossings).. In addition, the tests were conducted with ceiling lights off. This is because much light tends to increase fear and only the compound used was supposed to act as the only parameter. Also, the experiment was conducted in a silent place to avoid fear from noise as an external factor that would affect the results. The tests were done randomly for the lithium chloride and sodium chloride within the laboratory duration. There were three students required to take the recordings. As such, each of the three would record a particular measure since there were only three measures to be taken. Hypothesis Testing It is desired to assess the effects of the administration of LiCl and NaCl. Two hypotheses are developed, H0 and H1. The Null hypothesis states that that the physiological effects of the two compounds is similar, while the alternative hypothesis states that there is no similarity in the effects of the two salts. H0: There is a great degree of similarity in the effects on movement of the two compounds H1: There is no similarity in the effects on movement of both compounds To test the hypotheses, an Analysis of Variance is conducted based on the total line crossing of both Nacl and LiCl as in the data below. The data is processed using Microsoft Excel®. Total Line Crossing LiCl NaCl 85 139 110 136 151 35 81 37 103 49 149 80 130 92 193 44 136 87 151 131 144 Anova: Single Factor SUMMARY Groups Count Sum Average Variance LiCl 10 750 75 1066.667 NaCl 11 1513 137.5455 806.4727 ANOVA Source of Variation SS df MS F P-value F crit Between Groups 20491.08 1 20491.08 22.04 0.000158 4.38075 Within Groups 17664.73 19 929.7225 Total 38155.81 20         If F > F crit, we reject the null hypothesis. In this case, F is way greater than F crit and, therefore, we reject the null hypothesis and accept the alternative H1.This means that there is no similarity in the effects of the two compounds. RESULTS In the study of the effects of LiCl on the anxiety and behavior on rats, rats that had been injected with Lithium Chloride showed an increased rate of anxiety-like behavior when undergoing the open-field test. They spent most time along the walls of the chamber. The rats that had not been injected with LiCl retained their less fear and avoidance for the open field. In addition, the crisscrossing from one side to the other almost came to a stop. However, as the ten minutes started wearing away, the rats started appearing less docile and started moving around although still looking very frightened. A small amount of noise made the rats run back to the walls of the box and they wouldn’t move despite assurance that no one was around (assurance through a continued period of no noise). Notably, the activity, movement, and all that characterize normal rats lifestyles in a period of time all came to a standstill for the ten minutes of observation for those that had Lithium Chloride administered. The administration with Lithium Chloride brought about a reduction in the amount of movement and the intensity of the movement in the rats. The speed of the rats as they moved from one area to another tended to get lower as they got further cautious of their surroundings. Those that had Sodium Chloride administered did not have the above mentioned changes as they had normal movement and most of them moved randomly covering almost all corners of the nest. The observed outcome showed that the rats that had been injected with LiCl spent less amount of time in the centre than controls, (avg), t(df)= t-score, p = p-value, as depicted in the fig1, fig 2 and fig 3. Even in the amount of time that after a time they would chose come to go to the center of the box, the periodicity of that time reduced as they would take longer to move back. This is in comparison to those that Sodium Chloride administered, which would just take a short period of time, go back to the center, move to the other end and back, and so many activities that all involved movement. The two groups looked distinct based on that behavior and one would pin point the rats that had been injected with sodium chloride and those others that had been administered with Lithium Chloride. Below is a graphical representation of the outcomes between the two compounds. The average observations of the total line crossings were represented in a chart as in the figures below. The results are consistent with the hypothesis. Fig 1. A comparison of the Average Time in centre(sec) between the two compounds. Fig. 2. . A comparison of the average crossings into centre between the two compounds. Fig. 3A comparison of the Average Total line crossings between the two compounds. LiCl Time in Center (sec) Crossings into Center Total Line Crossings Average 13.46181818 4.272727273 75 SD 10.69865302 2.649185123 32.65986324 SE 2.859335292 0.708024506 9.058216273 n 11 11 10 p 0.032611902 0.004694645 0.000157806 df 20 20 19 t score 2.2961 3.1811 4.6947 NaCl Time in Centre (sec) Crossings into Centre Total Line Crossings Average 24.40454545 9.636363636 137.5454545 SD 11.6355278 4.9248904 28.39846347 SE 3.109725611 1.316232325 7.589808615 n 11 11 11 DISCUSSION Rats that had been treated with LiCl showed increased levels of anxiety when in the Open Field Apparatus. The test mostly relies on the Lithium’s effect on the rodent’s exploratory behavior as it is counter-acted by its normal and natural aversion to open space (Mackenzie, 2010). We can relate the time spent along the walls of the box to the exploratory behavior of the rats, and also inversely related to their anxiety. For the test subjects that did not have LiCl administered, we had high levels of anxiety observed as most of them would avoid empty spaces, and thus, keep along the walls of the box. For the locomotor test, the effects were the same as for explorative behavior. The crisscrossing was observed for the rats that had saline injected into them in relationship to those that had been injected with Lithium Chloride. Notably, most of the rats that had been injected with Lithium acted docile and stayed put on one location while the others were a bit freer and kept crisscrossing the box. All these indicate that Lithium Chloride made the rats to be a bit more apprehensive of the noise and light surrounding the box such that it could not stay away from the walls of the box due to fear. When the Lithium Chloride administration is in process, what is most likely is the rats being in an all-time high fear and less explorative as compared to Sodium Chloride. The Lithium Chloride leads to a loss in locomotion for the rats. Worth noting is that Lithium Chloride affects people with behavioral disorders such that it lengthens the time between episodes. In addition, it reduces the number of episodes in a unit time. Moreover, its administration reduces the severity of each and every episode (Quinn, 2007). Lithium has a capability to reduce activity and, at the same time, alter naturally occurring biological process or oscillations (Kiesbye, 2010). The patterns of exploration went down, and in fact, changed in those that had Lithium Chloride administered. Lithium, through studies conducted by other major researchers and scholars, is known to cause less locomotion in rats (Sterner, 2010). Due to its nature as a medicine for treatment of behavioral disorder, its working in the brain is what makes it play the role that it does in the rats. Since it increases their fears making them more sub-cautious, their movement reduces, just what we would expect for someone being involved in daring episodes after the administration of this compound. Similar studies on the use of stabilizers have been used for instance in the administration of valpoic acid to rats. The rats injected with valpoic acid show increased activity as compared to the control solution NaCl. This experiment has been successfully acknowledged by pharmacists and is the main functional components in drugs such as VilaproTM and Epilim TM. There are reports about the adverse effects of the administration of lithium to animals especially on fertility of subjects. Other adverse effects are manifested in the embryo viability on mice and also metabolism in-vitro. Future studies should, therefore, explore the use of mild salts such as RbCl and FrCl (Robert and Pierre Guibaud, 67) CONCLUSION Lithium chloride is an important compound in the treatment of bipolar disorder. In rats, the compound kicks up the fears in them making them a little bit more apprehensive compared to others that had not been injected with the same compound (Goodwin & Gary, 2010). As observed, Lithium chloride reduces the patters of exploration in the rats, impairs the time they take to try and go back to doing something after a distraction, as well as, making them fear going to open spaces. The increase in fear and apprehensiveness can be what happens in humans when injected with Lithium. The increase in levels of fears causes bipolar patients to tone down in some of the antics (John, 2011). On the other hand, as observed, it tends to bring about calm in subjects with overly active behaviors. The tests can be termed as confirmation of the so many tests done on rats ever since researchers realized that lithium has an effect on the minds of animals and humans; and more importantly, humans with bipolar disorders. Thus, the theoretical background of the experiment comes to be in agreement with the results and the general discussion. Concisely, intrinsic fears in rats rose such that they stayed along the walls of the box (Andre, et al., 2007). In addition, the daring nature of the rats was maintained by administering them with Sodium Chloride. LITERATURE CITED Andre, Justin St., Katie Albanos, and Steve Reilly. "C-fos Expression in the Rat Brain following Lithium Chloride-induced Illness." Brain Research (2007): 122-28. Print. Goodwin, Guy, and Gary Sachs. Bipolar Disorder. 2nd ed. Abingdon: HEALTH, 2010. Print. John, Frederick “Effects of Alpha Methyltyrosine and Parachlorophenylalanine on Open Field Behavior in Rats given Tranylcypromine Stereoisomers and Lithium Carbonate." Pharmacology Biochemistry and Behavior (2011): 479. Print. Kiesbye, Stefan. Bipolar Disorder. Farmington Hills, MI: Greenhaven/Gale Cengage Learning, 2010. Print. Mackenzie, West. "Lithium: Agent of Choice in Bipolar Disorder." Inpharma Weekly (2010): 2. Print. Quinn, Brian. Bipolar Disorder. Hoboken, N.J.: John Wiley & Sons, 2007. Print. Robert, Elisabeth, and Pierre Guibaud. "Maternal valproic acid and congenital neural tube defects." The Lancet 320.8304 (1982): 937. Sproule, Beth. "Lithium in Bipolar Disorder." Clinical Pharmacokinetics (2009): 639-60. Print. Sterner, Ray T. "Plasma Lithium as a Marker of Lithium Chloride in Wild Norway Rats (R. Norvegicus)." Physiology & Behavior (2010): 1013-015. Print. Read More