Animal models of depression and anxiety: What do they tell us about human condition?

While modern neurobiology methods are necessary they are not sufficient to elucidate etiology and pathophysiology of affective disorders and develop new treatments. Achievement of these goals is contingent on applying cutting edge methods on appropriate disease models. In this review, the authors present four rodent models with good face-, construct-, and predictive-validity: the Flinders Sensitive rat line (FSL); the genetically “anxious” High Anxiety-like Behavior (HAB) line; the serotonin transporter knockout 5-HTT−/− rat and mouse lines; and the post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) model induced by exposure to predator scent, that they have employed to investigate the nature of depression and anxiety.

Research Highlights► Understanding etiology and pathology of psychiatric disorders need disease models. ► Appropriate models of depression, anxiety and PTSD are reviewed. ► These rodent models all provide good face-, construct-, and predictive-validity.