Animal models for screening anxiolytic-like drugs: a perspective.
Open accessAbstract
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.
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Many current anti-anxiety medications used by human patients actually were developed through various animal models of 'fearful' reactions.
“In any case, a counterargument has been made that many of the current anti-anxiety medications used by human patients actually were developed through various animal models of ‘fearful’ reactions (Treit et al., 2010; Bourin, 2015).”
From Evolving Concepts of Emotion and Motivation (2018) · cites this paper as Bourin, 2015
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- Authors
- Bourin, M.
- Affiliations
- Université de Nantes (FR)
- Corresponding author
- Bourin, Michel
- ORCID
- Bourin, Michel
- Venue
- Dialogues in Clinical Neuroscience
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2015-09-30
- Volume
- 17
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 295-303
- ISSN
- 1294-8322 (ISSN-L)
- 1958-5969
- PMC
- PMC4610614
- OpenAlex
- W2179679836
- Cited by
- 163
- References
- 33
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 8 · 2024: 20 · 2023: 15 · 2022: 16 · 2021: 20 · 2020: 23 · 2019: 11 · 2018: 17 · 2017: 17 · 2016: 11 · 2015: 2
- FWCI
- 7.27
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- diamond
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Dialogues in Clinical Neuroscience (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience › Neurotransmitter Receptor Influence on Behavior
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Memory and Neural Mechanisms
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes
- Keywords
- animal models of anxiety, mice, rats, test-retest reliability, handling effects, behavioral paradigms
- MeSH terms
- Adaptation, Ocular, Animals, Anxiety Disorders, Disease Models, Animal, Exploratory Behavior, Anti-Anxiety Agents, Maze Learning, Translational Research, Biomedical
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