Animal model of schizophrenia

Research into the mental disorder of schizophrenia, involves multiple animal models as a tool, including in the preclinical stage of drug development.

Several models simulate schizophrenia defects. These fit into four basic categories: pharmacological models, developmental models, lesion models, and genetic models. Historically, pharmacological, or drug-induced models were the most widely used. These involve the manipulation of various neurotransmitter systems, including dopamine, glutamate, serotonin, and GABA. Lesion models, in which an area of an animal's brain is damaged, arose from theories that schizophrenia involves neurodegeneration, and that problems during neurodevelopment cause the disease. Traditionally, rodent models of schizophrenia mostly targeted symptoms analogous to the positive symptoms of schizophrenia, with some models also having symptoms similar to the negative symptoms. Recent developments in schizophrenia research, however, have targeted cognitive symptoms as some of the most debilitating and influential in patients' daily lives, and thus have become a larger target in animal models of schizophrenia.^[1] Animals used as models for schizophrenia include rats, mice, and primates.