Animal models for screening anxiolytic-like drugs: a perspective.
Contemporary biological psychiatry uses experimental animal models to increase our understanding of affective disorder pathogenesis. Modern anxiolytic drug discovery mainly targets specific pathways and molecular determinants within a single phenotypic domain. However, greater understanding of the mechanisms of action is possible through animal models. Primarily developed with rats, animal models in anxiety have been adapted with mixed success for mice, easy-to-use mammals with better genetic possibilities than rats. In this review, we focus on the three most common animal models of anxiety in mice used in the screening of anxiolytics. Both conditioned and unconditioned models are described, in order to represent all types of animal models of anxiety. Behavioral studies require careful attention to variable parameters linked to environment, handling, or paradigms; this is also discussed. Finally, we focus on the consequences of re-exposure to the apparatus. Test-retest procedures can provide new answers, but should be intensively studied in order to revalidate the entire paradigm as an animal model of anxiety.
University of Nantes, France.
Michel
M
Bourin
D000221:Adaptation, Ocular / Q000187:drug effects; D000818:Animals; D014151:Anti-Anxiety Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000235:genetics / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D005106:Exploratory Behavior / Q000187:drug effects; D018782:Maze Learning / Q000187:drug effects; D057170:Translational Research, Biomedical
D014151:Anti-Anxiety Agents
GABA; animal anxiety test; drug development; elevated plus maze; four-plate test; light/dark box test; serotonin receptor