322083 VU Behavioral Pharmacology und Toxicology - M14 (2025S)

Behavioral toxicology can be generally conceptualized as that scientific discipline which strives to understand the mechanisms by which toxicants affect behavior. In this respect, it is similar to its counterpart, behavioral pharmacology, the goal of which is to delineate the mechanisms by which drugs modulate behavior. Since its inception, the scope of behavioral toxicology has expanded considerably, driven in part by the need to ascertain the role of existing environmental contaminants in producing functional impairment, as well as the need to develop procedures to preclude future introduction of neurotoxic chemicals. In this way, behavioral pharmacology which, instead, seeks to develop compounds or agents with specific behavioral actions for therapeutic purposes.
The goal is to demonstrate the diversity of scientific approaches in the study of animal behavior under toxic materials effect.

Aims, contents and method of the course.
Experimental analyses of Pharmacological and Toxicological compounds and drugs on behavioral patterns in animals in different topics.