Methods of Research in Psychopharmacology

 

Research Methods for Evaluating the Brain and Behavior

Techniques in Behavioral Pharmacology

Evaluating Animal Behavior

Animal testing needs to be valid and reliable to produce useful information

A wide variety of behaviors are evaluated by psychopharmacologists

Box 4.1 Pharmacology in Action Using the Three-Chamber Social Interaction Test

Box 4.2 Clinical Applications Drug Testing for FDA Approval

Techniques in Neuropharmacology

Multiple Neurobiological Techniques for Assessing the CNS

Stereotaxic surgery is needed for accurate in vivo measures of brain function

Neurotransmitters, receptors, and other proteins can be quantified and visually located in the CNS

New tools are used for imaging the structure and function of the brain

Genetic engineering helps neuroscientists to ask and answer new questions

Box 4.3 Pharmacology in Action Transgenic Model of Huntington’s Disease

Behavioral and neuropharmacological methods complement one another