Neuroscience: The rat pack

Abbott, Alison

doi:10.1038/465282a

Cited by 13 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 5 publications

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“…non-human primates. The second is the increasing appreciation for rodent cognitive abilities [105] , which is making them attractive models to study cognitive functions as complex as perceptual decision-making [106,107] , rule learning [108] and working memory [109] . While the access to genetic manipulation has inspired a considerable number of neuroanatomy [32,33] , imaging [73,110,111] and electrophysiology [72,112–115] studies of mouse visual cortex (culminating with the endowment, by the Allen Institute for Brain Science, of a $300 million budget to a 10-year project to study the mouse visual system [116,117] ), the possibility of testing highly manageable animal models in complex visual tasks, such as shape processing and invariant object recognition, has fostered the behavioral investigation of rat visual abilities [118–128] .…”

Section: Visual or Not Visual?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Invariant visual object recognition and shape processing in rats

Zoccolan

2015

Behavioural Brain Research

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HighlightsRats are capable of invariant visual object recognition.Rats spontaneously perceive different views of a visual object as similar to each other, that is as instances of the same object.Rats are capable of a multifeatural, shape-based visual processing strategy.Rats can learn complex, configural visual discriminations.Rats spontaneously process composite visual patterns according to perceptual grouping cues.

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Section: Visual or Not Visual?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Invariant visual object recognition and shape processing in rats

Zoccolan

2015

Behavioural Brain Research

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“…The behavioral differences between the commonly used species are a source of uncertainty. The majority of studies discussed here were done in rats, considered to be well suited for behavioral testing even with more difficult sensory decision making paradigms [130]. Another advantage of the rat as an experimental model for studying the neuronal circuitry underlying tinnitus is the possibility to implant electrode arrays with high channel counts and perform chronic recordings in awake [131] and behaving animals (e.g., Otazu and Zador [132]).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Animal Models of Subjective Tinnitus

Behrens

2014

Neural Plasticity

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Tinnitus is one of the major audiological diseases, affecting a significant portion of the ageing society. Despite its huge personal and presumed economic impact there are only limited therapeutic options available. The reason for this deficiency lies in the very nature of the disease as it is deeply connected to elementary plasticity of auditory processing in the central nervous system. Understanding these mechanisms is essential for developing a therapy that reverses the plastic changes underlying the pathogenesis of tinnitus. This requires experiments that address individual neurons and small networks, something usually not feasible in human patients. However, in animals such invasive experiments on the level of single neurons with high spatial and temporal resolution are possible. Therefore, animal models are a very critical element in the combined efforts for engineering new therapies. This review provides an overview over the most important features of animal models of tinnitus: which laboratory species are suitable, how to induce tinnitus, and how to characterize the perceived tinnitus by behavioral means. In particular, these aspects of tinnitus animal models are discussed in the light of transferability to the human patients.

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“…The rat Brown Norway reference sequence is currently being updated, but the most exciting prospect is the availability of other inbred strain sequences. Several strains have already been sequenced and are currently being assembled and annotated to allow investigators to query across commonly used strains (Abbott 2009, 2010; Pravenec and Kurtz 2010). Other new technologies, such as RNAseq for transcriptome sequencing, allow for full genomic characterization of strains.…”

Section: On the Horizonmentioning

confidence: 99%

The emerging role for rat models in gene discovery

2011

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Rat models have been used for many decades to study physiological and pathophysiological mechanisms. Prior to the release of the rat genome and new technologies for targeting gene manipulation, the rat had been the underdog in the genomics era, despite the abundance of physiological data compared to the mouse. The overarching goal of biomedical research is to improve health and advance medical science. Translating human disease gene discovery and validation in the rat, through the use of emerging technologies and integrated tools and databases, is providing power to understand the genetics, environmental influences, and biology of disease. In this review, we will briefly outline the rat models, bioinformatic tools, and technologies that are changing the landscape of translational research. The strategies used to translate disease traits to genes to function, and ultimately, to improve human health will be discussed. Finally, our perspectives on how rat models will continue to positively impact biomedical research will be provided.

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Neuroscience: The rat pack

Cited by 13 publications

References 5 publications

Invariant visual object recognition and shape processing in rats

Invariant visual object recognition and shape processing in rats

Animal Models of Subjective Tinnitus

The emerging role for rat models in gene discovery

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