02229nas a2200193 4500008004100000245011600041210006900157260002900226300001000255490000800265520152700273100001301800700001501813700001401828700001501842700001401857700001601871856014801887 2018 eng d00aImpaired pupillary control in “schizophrenia-like” WISKET rats. Autonomic Neuroscience: Basic and Clinical.0 aImpaired pupillary control in schizophrenialike WISKET rats Auto bElsevierc2018 September a34-420 v2133 a

Patients with schizophrenia show impairments in autonomic regulation, including pupillomotor control. The aim of this study was to explore the changes of pupillary light reflex in a new substrain (WISKET) with several schizophrenia-like alterations.

Male WISKET rats housed individually (for four weeks) and treated with ketamine (for 3 × 5 days) after weaning and naive group-housed Wistar rats (controls) were involved in the study. The pupillary light reflex was studied in two series after sedation (diazepam) or anesthesia (chloral hydrate). Video recordings were evaluated with custom made video analyzer software.

Several significant changes were observed between the two groups: the initial and minimum pupil diameters were greater, the degree of the constriction was lower, and the flatness of the curve and the total duration of constriction were shorter in the sedated WISKET rats. No other pupillary parameters (latency, amplitude and redilation) showed significant alterations.

Chloral hydrate anesthesia prolonged the constriction and redilation processes compared to the sedated animals, and diminished the differences between the groups.

In conclusion, WISKET rats showed disturbances in the pupillary light reflex, suggesting a general shift of autonomic balance towards a sympathetic predominance. The results provide further evidence to support the validity of WISKET rats as a complex, chronic animal model of schizophrenia.

 

1 aBüki, A1 aKalmár, G1 aKekesi, G1 aBenedek, G1 aNyúl, LG1 aHorváth, G uhttps://home.inf.u-szeged.hu/publication/impaired-pupillary-control-in-schizophrenia-like-wisket-rats-autonomic-neuroscience-basic-and-clinical01406nas a2200181 4500008004100000245007000041210006800111260006600179300001200245490000700257520081800264100001501082700001301097700001401110700001601124700001401140856007001154 2017 eng d00aImage processing-based automatic pupillometry on infrared videos.0 aImage processingbased automatic pupillometry on infrared videos aSzegedbSzegedi Tudományegyetem / University of Szegedc2017 a599-6130 v233 a

Pupillometry is a non-invasive technique that can be used to objectively characterize pathophysiological changes involving the pupillary reflex. It is essentially the measurement of the pupil diameter over time. Here, specially designed computer algorithms provide fast, reliable and reproducible solutions for the analysis. These methods use a priori information about the shape and color of the pupil. Our study focuses on measuring the diameter and dynamics of the pupils of rats with schizophrenia using videos recorded with a modified digital camera under infrared (IR) illumination. We developed a novel, robust method that measures the size of a pupil even under poor circumstances (noise, blur, reflections and occlusions). We compare our results with measurements obtained using manual annotation.

1 aKalmár, G1 aBüki, A1 aKekesi, G1 aHorváth, G1 aNyúl, LG uhttp://cyber.bibl.u-szeged.hu/index.php/actcybern/article/view/29