Fall and rise of behavioural pharmacology

Since the 1970s, a fortunate ensemble of technological and scientific developments has radically changed pharmacology, both in practice and imaginative thinking, towards a predominantly molecular science. Economic and political forces contributed to the undervaluation of in vivo experiments. The present generation of bioscientists, undertrained in whole animal, particularly behavioural pharmacology, now faces the challenge to interpret and translate an interminable hoard of molecular data into understandable and applicable medicine. The article provides a retrospection in four decades of progress.

Section editors:Bart Ellenbroek – Radboud University, Nijmegen, The NetherlandsTwan Ederveen – N.V. Organon, Oss, The Netherlands