Steve Hodgkinson

Wolfgang P. Kaschka

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Acta Clin Croat (Suppl. 2) 2011; 4th international epilepsy symposium in Pula – how to start seizure treatment88 Acta Clin Croat,  Vol. 50,  (Suppl) No. 2,  2011A GASTROPOD MODEL IN PSYCHIATRY: DISSECTING THE MOLECULAR MECHANISMS INVOLVED IN ACTION SELECTIONHodgkinson, Steve, Kaschka, Wolfgang P.Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy I, University of Ulm, GermanyBackgroundInstinctive, goal-directed behaviour (GDB) is found in all animals including humans. Each of us has experienced the overwhelming need to withdraw from a crowded and noisy room; to seek and consume food; that we are in danger and need to protect our-selves; or a strong sexual attraction. What seems to set us apart from other animals in this respect may be the degree to which we are able to modulate such behaviour when presented with other competing cognitive and aﬀ ective stimuli. Whilst in-stinctive GDBs are part of the ‘normal’ repertoire of all animal behaviour, pathological extremes are found in both humans and other animals. In humans for ex-ample, disturbances in the modulation of instinctive GDBs are commonly associated with psychiatric dis-orders such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, major depression and personality disorders and may mani-fest themselves as cognitive and social withdrawal, excessive/minimal consumption of food, excessive checking, counting or arranging of items, excessive and ritualistic washing of hands etc. Understanding the underlying neurobiological processes associated with these pathological changes in behaviour modulation would be an important step towards developing better treatment regimes for pa-tients. Whilst the phenomenological characterisation of pathological changes in GDB observed in humans (and also in some animals) is relatively straightfor-ward, determining what is happening at the cellular level is much more diﬃ  cult. Th e interplay between the basal functions driving many instinctive GDBs and higher emotional and cognitive functions makes the human brain an extremely complicated system to study. Hence we are in the ﬁ rst stages of developing a simple animal model to help us understand what takes place at a cellular level when instinctive GDB is modiﬁ ed.Th e Model Marisa cornuarietis is a large (up to 5 cm diam-eter) tropical freshwater snail originating from South America. Along with other gastropods, M. cornuari-etis represents a relatively simple model organism for the study of neural development and behaviour. Th e neural tissue of M. cornuarietis comprises a series of ganglia arranged in a ring and individual neurones are easily identiﬁ able. Ganglia and neurones remain vi-able long enough to conduct ex vivo electrophysiologi-cal a nd cell biological experiments, as well as in vitro, molecular biology.Workshop PresentationIn our workshop presentation, I will brieﬂ y review our current understanding of instinctive GDB in hu-mans and other animals and the various pathological manifestations of instinctive GDB commonly associ-ated with psychiatric illness.I will then describe the approaches we are devel-oping with our animal (gastropod) model in order to understand the underlying mechanisms that modulate instinctive GDB. In particular, I will consider the po-tential of re-creating in vitro, networks of neurones responsible for very simple instinctive GDBs.In the ﬁ nal part of our presentation, I will dis-cuss how the research we are conducting relates and Acta Clin Croat,  Vol. 50,  (Suppl) No. 2,  2011 89Acta Clin Croat (Suppl. 2) 2011; 4th international epilepsy symposium in Pula – how to start seizure treatmentcontributes to the broader goal of understanding the aetiological antecedents of illnesses such as major de-pression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia and person-ality disorders. 

A Gastropod Model in Psychiatry: Dissecting the Molecular Mechanisms Involved in Action Selection

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