An intra-cerebral drug delivery system for freely moving animals drug delivery in neural research

24.05.2012

Spieth S, Schumacher A, Holtzman T, Rich PD, Theobald DE, Dalley JW, Nouna R, Messner S, Zengerle R

Biomed Microdevices. 2012; 14(5):799-809

Biomed Microdevices           online article

Microinfusions of drugs directly into the central nervous system of awake animals represent a widely used means of unravelling brain functions related to behaviour. We address this approach with a miniaturised electronically- controlled drug delivery system designed to be skull-mounted in rats.  The device was used to investigate the effects of a NMDA-receptor administered directly into the prefrontal cortex of rats during performance on a task to assess visual attention and impulsivity.