The validity of experimental animal models of depression / 中国病理生理杂志

ABSTRACT

Study of depression and antidepressant drugs mainly depends on animal models. Twelve animal models of depression related to some sets of validating criteria are reviewed. Of the 12 models, some traditional models (reserpine reversal, amphetamine potentiation) are rejected as they are devoid of selectivity, insufficient to predict antidepressant activity in the compounds tested. The models with the highest overall validity are the intracranial self-stimulation, chronic stress and learned helplessness models in rats, and the primate separation model. A combination of several models may be the best way to study depression and to screen antidepressant drugs. This combination can be used to detect compounds comparable to those antidepressants possessing clinically established antidepressant activity.