Overview of the past contributions of animal models and their changing place in psychiatry.

Research utilizing animal models has been responsible for major advances in understanding psychiatric disorders. The first data based integrative theories of psychopathology grew largely out of animal research. A variety of animal models that have been developed have been critical in broadening our understanding of human development and in providing empirical support for the importance of early experiences for behavioral and neurobiologic development. The development of many widely used clinical psychopharmacologic agents has depended on the use of animal models. The above examples represent substantive contributions of animal models to investigations of fundamental aspects of psychopathology. There is no "perfect," complete or comprehensive single animal model for any specific psychiatric disorder and contentious debates about the validity and/or usefulness of specific animal models persist. Animal models of diseases in medicine need to be understood in a historical and evolutionary perspective and their advantages as well as limitations recognized. There will likely never be an animal model in any field of medicine that is a perfect fit with the human condition, rather the emphasis in the development and study of disease models in animals needs to be on specific components of the human illness. Neither overextended cross-species comparisons nor unjustified negativism about animal models seems defensible. A major challenge in the continuing development and use of biobehavioral animal models in psychiatry is their relationship to the molecular neurosciences, including genetics, in understanding the mechanisms of mental disorders. Copyright 2001 by W.B. Saunders Company