title: [Considerations regarding animal research of traditional Chinese medicine on attention deficit hyperactivity disorder].
abstract: Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a common developmental neuropsychiatric disorder. Although ADHD can often be treated with stimulant class medications to alleviate symptoms, such treatments may cause undesirable side effects. Recently, Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has been gaining interest with treatment potential for ADHD and the lack of the stimulant-associated undesirable side effects. Animal models are useful for study the efficacy and mechanisms of TCM treatment for ADHD, however, previous studies of TCM on ADHD animal models, in general, have not considered appropriate experiemental designs. There were many concerns regarding the choice and source of the model and control animals, drug administration methods, behavioral and biochemical testing criteria, humane use of animals, and statistical power, etc. In this review, we discuss these issues present in the previous literature of animal research, and propose guidelines for future studies in particular consideration with the unique characteristic of Chinese medicine itself.
authors.affiliation: First Clinical Medicine College, Nanjing University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Nanjing 210046, China. nxq13ek@163.com
authors.forename: Xin-Qiang
authors.initials: XQ
authors.lastname: Ni
authors.forename: Yan-Li
authors.initials: YL
authors.lastname: Zhang-James
authors.forename: Xin-Min
authors.initials: XM
authors.lastname: Han
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001289:Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity / Q000188:drug therapy*; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D006801:Humans; D051379:Mice; D051381:Rats
chemical_list: D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal