Translational model of Schizophrenia - Phencyclidine (PCP)

Newsletter # 63

Animal models


Cognitive deficit is major contributor to disability in schizophrenia and involves several domains including attention, memory, learning and executive function. The impairment is typically present prior to the onset of the illness and remains one of the major challenges in psychiatry. Phencyclidine (PCP) is a is a recreational drug that produces schizophrenia symptoms in humans.

NEUROFIT has used PCP-induced cognitive impairment in rat as a surrogate for cognitive impairment in schizophrenia and has generated proof of concept data with the nootropic compound nicotine.

  • Rat PCP model - Novel Object Recognition test





  • ■ The novel object recognition task is a test of memory performance in rodents.

    ■ A Recognition Index significantly greater than 50% indicates more exploration of the novel object and thus reflects good memory performance.

    ■ Nicotine treatment improves PCP-induced memory deficit in the rat novel object recognition task.


NEUROFIT offers a range of validated in vitro and in vivo screening tests for psychiatry and neurology.

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