[Animal models for evaluating of drug dependence liability].
Assessment of psychological dependence liability of drug is essential for regulatory compliance and the drug development process. The most reliable method for evaluating the psychic dependence liability of drug is the self-administration paradigm. The conditioned place preference paradigm is also useful method for evaluating the rewarding effect of drugs and is widely used. Furthermore, the drug discrimination paradigm, which analyzes the similarity with abused drugs by utilizing the effect of consciousness when taking drugs, has also been implemented. This paper summarizes the characteristics of each method and outlines the methods for evaluating drug dependence using animals. It also introduces recent findings about the studies of molecular mechanisms of drug dependence using gene-knockout and transgenic mice.
Funada
Masahiko
M
Department of Drug Dependence Research, National Institute of Mental Health, National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry.
D000818:Animals; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D051379:Mice; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders