Animal models of recurrent or bipolar depression

T Kato; T Kasahara; M Kubota-Sakashita; T M Kato; K Nakajima

doi:10.1016/j.neuroscience.2015.08.016

Animal models of recurrent or bipolar depression

Neuroscience. 2016 May 3:321:189-196. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroscience.2015.08.016. Epub 2015 Aug 8.

Authors

T Kato¹, T Kasahara², M Kubota-Sakashita², T M Kato², K Nakajima²

Affiliations

¹ Laboratory for Molecular Dynamics of Mental Disorders, RIKEN Brain Science Institute, Japan. Electronic address: kato@brain.riken.jp.
² Laboratory for Molecular Dynamics of Mental Disorders, RIKEN Brain Science Institute, Japan.

PMID: 26265551
DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroscience.2015.08.016

Abstract

Animal models of mental disorders should ideally have construct, face, and predictive validity, but current animal models do not always satisfy these validity criteria. Additionally, animal models of depression rely mainly on stress-induced behavioral changes. These stress-induced models have limited validity, because stress is not a risk factor specific to depression, and the models do not recapitulate the recurrent and spontaneous nature of depressive episodes. Although animal models exhibiting recurrent depressive episodes or bipolar depression have not yet been established, several researchers are trying to generate such animals by modeling clinical risk factors as well as by manipulating a specific neural circuit using emerging techniques.

Keywords: bipolar disorder; depressive disorder; model mice.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Review

MeSH terms

Animals
Bipolar Disorder* / physiopathology
Bipolar Disorder* / psychology
Depressive Disorder / physiopathology
Depressive Disorder / psychology
Disease Models, Animal*
Humans
Mice
Recurrence