Human implications of animal experiments--lessons from dexfenfluramine.
Experience with dexfenfluramine and related compounds illustrates some of the potentials and the limitations of studies in experimental animals. Major pharamcological effects of these drugs were identified in animal models, but a variety of behavioral, psychotherapeutic, autonomic, and cardiovascular actions were not predicted from animal experiments, and it is unlikely that satisfactory animal models exist for some of them. An examination of the literature on animal and human studies of drugs on eating behavior, food intake, and body weight leads to the conclusion that the models used, at present, do not truly represent the complexity of the processes being investigated.
Turner
P
P
Department of Clinical Pharmacology, St. Bartholomew's Hospital, London, England.
D000818:Animals; D005277:Fenfluramine / Q000494:pharmacology*; D006801:Humans; D008954:Models, Biological
D005277:Fenfluramine