Animal models have long been used to explore neurobiological substrates of behaviors
and to develop treatment for mental illnesses. Although these models have considerably
contributed to our understanding of neurobiological processes, they have been overwhelmingly
disappointing to date for the drug discovery process, as preclinical models are poor
predictors of clinical efficacy. It is largely agreed that many animal models lack
cross-species translational validity, and that improvement will depend on maximizing
the similarity of the measures of responses across species. Thus, paradigms yielding
comparable observed phenomena in both preclinical animal models and human behavior
are an important first step in this direction.
To read this article in full you will need to make a payment
Purchase one-time access:
Academic & Personal: 24 hour online accessCorporate R&D Professionals: 24 hour online accessOne-time access price info
- For academic or personal research use, select 'Academic and Personal'
- For corporate R&D use, select 'Corporate R&D Professionals'
Subscribe:
Subscribe to Biological PsychiatryAlready a print subscriber? Claim online access
Already an online subscriber? Sign in
Register: Create an account
Institutional Access: Sign in to ScienceDirect
References
- A human open field test reveals thigmotaxis related to agoraphobic fear.Biol Psychiatry. 2016; 80: 390-397
- The open field as a paradigm to measure the effects of drugs on anxiety-like behaviors: A review.Eur J Pharmacol. 2003; 463: 3-33
- Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th ed. American Psychiatric Association, Washingron, DC2013
- Research domain criteria (RDoC): Toward a new classification framework for research on mental disorders.Am J Psychiatry. 2010; 167: 748-751
- The ultimate model organism: Progress in experimental medicine.Nat Rev Drug Discov. 2005; 4: 631-638
- Recent trends in the study of specific phobias.Curr Opin Psychiatry. 2008; 21: 43-50
- Contextual fear conditioning in humans: Cortical-hippocampal and amygdala contributions.J Neurosci. 2008; 28: 6211-6219
- Diverging neural pathways assemble a behavioural state from separable features in anxiety.Nature. 2013; 496: 219-223
- Distinct extended amygdala circuits for divergent motivational states.Nature. 2013; 496: 224-228
- Fear extinction as a model for translational neuroscience: Ten years of progress.Annu Rev Psychol. 2012; 63: 129-151
Article info
Publication history
Accepted:
July 10,
2016
Received:
July 7,
2016
Identification
Copyright
Published by Elsevier Inc on behalf of Society of Biological Psychiatry
ScienceDirect
Access this article on ScienceDirectLinked Article
- A Human Open Field Test Reveals Thigmotaxis Related to Agoraphobic FearBiological PsychiatryVol. 80Issue 5
- PreviewThigmotaxis refers to a specific behavior of animals (i.e., to stay close to walls when exploring an open space). Such behavior can be assessed with the open field test (OFT), which is a well-established indicator of animal fear. The detection of similar open field behavior in humans may verify the translational validity of this paradigm. Enhanced thigmotaxis related to anxiety may suggest the relevance of such behavior for anxiety disorders, especially agoraphobia.
- Full-Text
- Preview
