New strategies in the search for anxiolytics.

This article discusses the need for animal behavioural tests in the search for novel anxiolytics and describes in detail those tests that are ethologically-based (the social interaction, elevated plus-maze, light-dark transitions, and rat pup isolation-induced calling tests). The extent to which different animal tests might be sensitive to different types of anxiety is also discussed, with particular reference to possible differences between generalised anxiety and panic disorder.