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Review
. 2019 Jan;64(1):5-17.
doi: 10.1177/0706743718773728. Epub 2018 May 9.

An Overview of Animal Models Related to Schizophrenia

Ian R Winship  1 , Serdar M Dursun  2   3 , Glen B Baker  2   3 , Priscila A Balista  4 , Ludmyla Kandratavicius  5 , Joao Paulo Maia-de-Oliveira  3   6 , Jaime Hallak  3   5   7 , John G Howland  8
Affiliations
Review

An Overview of Animal Models Related to Schizophrenia

Ian R Winship et al. Can J Psychiatry. 2019 Jan.

Abstract
in English, French

Schizophrenia is a heterogeneous psychiatric disorder that is poorly treated with current therapies. In this brief review, we provide an update regarding the use of animal models to study schizophrenia in an attempt to understand its aetiology and develop novel therapeutic strategies. Tremendous progress has been made developing and validating rodent models that replicate the aetiologies, brain pathologies, and behavioural abnormalities associated with schizophrenia in humans. Here, models are grouped into 3 categories-developmental, drug induced, and genetic-to reflect the heterogeneous risk factors associated with schizophrenia. Each of these models is associated with varied but overlapping pathophysiology, endophenotypes, behavioural abnormalities, and cognitive impairments. Studying schizophrenia using multiple models will permit an understanding of the core features of the disease, thereby facilitating preclinical research aimed at the development and validation of better pharmacotherapies to alter the progression of schizophrenia or alleviate its debilitating symptoms.

La schizophrénie est un trouble psychiatrique hétérogène qui n’est pas bien traité par les thérapies actuelles. Dans cette brève revue, nous offrons une mise à jour concernant l’utilisation de modèles animaux pour étudier la schizophrénie en vue d’en comprendre l’étiologie et d’élaborer de nouvelles stratégies thérapeutiques. Des progrès formidables ont été réalisés dans le développement et la validation de modèles rongeurs qui reproduisent les étiologies, les pathologies cérébrales et les anomalies comportementales associées à la schizophrénie chez les humains. Ici, les modèles sont groupés en 3 catégories: développementale, induite par des médicaments, et génétique pour refléter les facteurs de risque hétérogènes associés à la schizophrénie. Chacun de ces modèles est associé à une pathophysiologie, des endophénotypes, des anomalies comportementales, et des déficiences cognitives variés mais se chevauchant. Étudier la schizophrénie à l’aide de modèles multiples nous permettra de comprendre les caractéristiques essentielles de la maladie, facilitant ainsi la recherche préclinique qui vise le développement et la validation de meilleures pharmacothérapies afin de modifier la progression de la schizophrénie ou d’en atténuer les symptômes invalidants.

Keywords: 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT; animal models; dopamine; glutamate; schizophrenia; serotonin).

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Conflicting Interests: The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

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