title: The translational study of apathy-an ecological approach.
abstract: Apathy, a quantitative reduction in goal-directed behavior, is a prevalent symptom dimension with a negative impact on functional outcome in various neuropsychiatric disorders including schizophrenia and depression. The aim of this review is to show that interview-based assessment of apathy in humans and observation of spontaneous rodent behavior in an ecological setting can serve as an important complementary approach to already existing task-based assessment, to study and understand the neurobiological bases of apathy. We first discuss the paucity of current translational approaches regarding animal equivalents of psychopathological assessment of apathy. We then present the existing evaluation scales for the assessment of apathy in humans and propose five sub-domains of apathy, namely self-care, social interaction, exploration, work/education and recreation. Each of the items in apathy evaluation scales can be assigned to one of these sub-domains. We then show that corresponding, well-validated behavioral readouts exist for rodents and that, indeed, three of the five human apathy sub-domains have a rodent equivalent. In conclusion, the translational ecological study of apathy in humans and rodents is possible and will constitute an important approach to increase the understanding of the neurobiological bases of apathy and the development of novel treatments.
authors.affiliation: Preclinical Laboratory for Translational Research into Affective Disorders (PLaTRAD), Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, Psychiatric Hospital, University of Zurich Zurich, Switzerland ; Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, Psychiatric Hospital, University of Zurich Zurich, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Flurin
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Cathomas
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, Psychiatric Hospital, University of Zurich Zurich, Switzerland ; Laboratory for Social and Neural Systems Research, Department of Economics, University of Zurich Zurich, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Matthias N
authors.initials: MN
authors.lastname: Hartmann
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, Psychiatric Hospital, University of Zurich Zurich, Switzerland ; Neuroscience Center, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, University of Zurich Zurich, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Erich
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Seifritz
authors.affiliation: Preclinical Laboratory for Translational Research into Affective Disorders (PLaTRAD), Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, Psychiatric Hospital, University of Zurich Zurich, Switzerland ; Neuroscience Center, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, University of Zurich Zurich, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Christopher R
authors.initials: CR
authors.lastname: Pryce
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, Psychiatric Hospital, University of Zurich Zurich, Switzerland ; Laboratory for Social and Neural Systems Research, Department of Economics, University of Zurich Zurich, Switzerland ; Zurich Center for Integrative Human Physiology, University of Zurich Zurich, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Stefan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kaiser
keywords: apathy; depression; ecological animal models; psychopathology; schizophrenia