Cognitive tests

Modified Barnes maze (foraging/homing; aged rat)
Delayed Matching to Sample (DMTS; working memory) (primate)

Discrimination behavior (primate)

Passive avoidance

Radial maze (reference and working memory versions)

Social recognition (rat and mouse)

T-maze (rat)

Y-maze (rat and mouse)

Watermaze place learning (Morris task; learning and reference memory) (rat and mouse)

Watermaze place memory (delay dependent; working memory) (rat and mouse)

Motor tests

Beam walking

Bracing

Disengage Test

Drug-induced turning (Rotation Test)

Forelimb asymmetry (Cylinder Test)

Grip strength

Grid walking

Landing foot spread test

Open field test

Placing

Rotorod

Single limb akinesia

Skilled reaching (forelimb motor control)

Tail suspension

Screening Tests and Assays

Flow cytometry (for immuno-phenotyping, intracellular cytokine or calcium detection, apoptosis assays using TUNEL and Annexin V)

Glutamate induced cell damage

Intra-cellular caspase activity assay

Staurosporine induced cell damage

RNA expression profiling using microarray analysis

Morphology

Confocal microscopy

Double fluorescent labeling

Electron microscopy (to examine cellular changes)

Golgi staining (to examine dendritic branching, synaptic density, and terminal sprouting)

Histological evaluation (cryostat, microtome, vibratome)

Neuron and glia counting, using stereological techniques

Myelin staining and fiber counting

Retrograde and anterograde tracing with fluorescent dyes (to examine axon sprouting)

Neurochemistry

APP expression
Beta-Amyloid cell lesion assay

Cell adhesion assay

Cell-free caspase activity assay

DNA sequencing

Expression of genes specified by client

Gel-shift

Gene cloning

Immunohistochemistry (B-amyloid, APP, GFAP, NEUN, OX42, ED1)

In situ hybridization (APP, AB 1-40, AB 1-42 ELISA)

Intracranial microdialysis (freely moving mice/rats)

Neuritic extension assay

Northern Blot

Western Blot

Oligonucleotide synthesis/peptide synthesis

Post-mortem evaluation of amines

Protein labeling and detection using Ettan spot picker

Receptor protein evaluation

Release of neurotransmitters in cell culture

RT-PCR

Tau protein sequestration assay