Exploring test batteries for depression- and anxiety-like behaviours in female and male ICR and black Swiss mice

2020 ◽  
Vol 32 (6) ◽  
pp. 293-302 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lydmila Kazavchinsky ◽  
Sofi Dahan ◽  
Haim Einat
Keyword(s):  
Animal Models ◽  
Mental Disorders ◽  
Depression And Anxiety ◽  
Behavioural Phenotype ◽  
Drug Treatments ◽  
Emotional Behaviour ◽  
Behavioural Test ◽  
Outbred Mice ◽  
Behavioural Tests ◽  
The Relationship

AbstractObjective and rationale: Animal models are critical for the study of mental disorders and their treatments but are repeatedly criticized for problems with validity and reproducibility. One approach to enhance validity and reproducibility of models is to use test batteries rather than single tests. Yet, a question regarding batteries is whether one can expect a consistent individual behavioural phenotype in mice across tests that can be presumed to be part of the same construct. This study was designed to explore the relationship between the behaviours of mice across tests in some variations of test batteries for depression- and anxiety-like behaviours. Methods: Female and male healthy, intact, and untreated mice from the ICR and black Swiss strains were used in four separate experiments. With some variations, mice were exposed to a battery of behavioural tests representing affective- and anxiety-like behaviours. Data were analysed for differences between sexes and for correlations between behaviours within and across the tests in the battery. Results: No differences were found between the sexes. With very few exceptions, we found correlations within tests (when one test has more than one measure or is repeated) but not across different tests within the battery. Conclusions: The results cast some doubt on the utility of behavioural test batteries to represent different facets of emotional behaviour in healthy intact outbred mice, without any interventions or treatments. Additional studies are designed to explore whether stronger relationship between the tests will appear after manipulations or drug treatments.

scholarly journals Experimental animal models for the simulation of depression and anxiety

2006 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 323-333 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Animal Models ◽  
Anxiety Disorders ◽  
Experimental Models ◽  
Depression And Anxiety ◽  
Human Situation ◽  
Clinical Syndromes ◽  
Behavioral Parameters ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Psychiatric Problems ◽  
Pathological Anxiety

An impressive number of animal models to assess depression and anxiety are available today. However, the relationship between these models and the clinical syndromes of depression and anxiety is not always clear. Since human anxiety disorders represent a multifactorial phenomenon frequently comorbid with major depression and/or other psychiatric problems, the chance of creating animal models which consistently reflect the human situation is quite poor. When using experimental models to understand homologies between animal and human behavior, we have to consider the context in which an animal is investigated, and both the functional significance and relevance of the behavioral parameters that are quantified. Moreover, gender and interindividual and interspecies variabilities in behavioral responses to the test situation and in the sensitivity to pharmacological treatments are potential sources for confounding results. In the past, these aspects have been often neglected in preclinical approaches to behavioral pharmacology and psychopharmacology. A pragmatic approach of combined preclinical and clinical efforts is necessary to imitate one or more aspects relevant to pathological anxiety disorders and depression. The resulting models may identify central nervous processes regulating defined behavioral output, with the potential to develop more effective treatments.

scholarly journals Some Reasons Why Preclinical Studies of Psychiatric Disorders Fail to Translate: What Can Be Rescued from the Misunderstanding and Misuse of Animal ‘Models’?

2020 ◽  
Vol 48 (3) ◽  
pp. 106-115 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Clare Stanford
Keyword(s):  
Animal Models ◽  
Psychiatric Disorders ◽  
Preclinical Research ◽  
Behavioural Phenotype ◽  
Diagnostic Features ◽  
Candidate Drug ◽  
Drug Treatments ◽  
Human Illness ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Psychiatric Problems

The repeated failure of animal models to yield findings that translate into humans is a serious threat to the credibility of preclinical biomedical research. The use of animals in research that lacks translational validity is unacceptable in any ethical environment, and so this problem needs urgent attention. To reproduce any human illness in animals is a serious challenge, but this is especially the case for psychiatric disorders. Yet, many authors do not hesitate to describe their findings as a ‘model’ of such a disorder. More cautious scientists describe the behavioural phenotype as ‘disorder-like’, without specifying the way(s) in which the abnormal behaviour could be regarded as being analogous to any of the diagnostic features of the disorder in question. By way of discussing these problems, this article focuses on common, but flawed, assumptions that pervade preclinical research of depression and antidepressants. Particular attention is given to the difference between putative ‘models’ of this illness and predictive screens for candidate drug treatments, which is evidently widely misunderstood. However, the problems highlighted in this article are generic and afflict research of all psychiatric disorders. This dire situation will be resolved only when funders and journal editors take action to ensure that researchers interpret their findings in a less ambitious, but more realistic, evidence-based way that would parallel changes in research of the cause(s), diagnosis and treatment of psychiatric problems in humans.

Nutrition, sleep, physical exercise: Impact on mental health

2016 ◽  
Vol 33 (S1) ◽  
pp. S12-S12 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. Rössler
Keyword(s):  
Mental Disorders ◽  
Lifestyle Factors ◽  
Essential Elements ◽  
Depression And Anxiety ◽  
Diet Patterns ◽  
Multifactorial Diseases ◽  
Competing Interest ◽  
Medical Disciplines ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Diet And Lifestyle

Until recently nutrition and various other lifestyle factors were predominantly in the focus of medical disciplines like cardiology, endocrinology or gastroenterology. As mental disorders are multifactorial diseases and as such are complex, emerging evidence suggests that nutrition, exercise and sleep also play an important role in the aetiology, progression and treatment of mental disorders. In this regard research has mostly focused on depression and anxiety, but there is also evidence for other mental disorders like schizophrenia or autism. Some details concerning the relationship between diet and sleep on neuro-transmitter processes, immune-inflammatory pathways or oxidative stress will be demonstrated.Modifications of life style factors and diet are increasingly recognized as potential therapeutic options. Mostly used are nutrient-based supplements and essential elements in combination. But also healthy diet patterns with a high intake of vegetable, fruits and fish have proven beneficial in the treatment. If we better understand the microbiota-gut-brain axis and its impact on behavior, mood and cognitive processes, diet and lifestyle factors can not only contribute to the treatment but also to the prevention of mental disorders.Disclosure of interestThe author has not supplied his declaration of competing interest.

Reductionist thinking and animal models in neuropsychiatric research

2019 ◽  
Vol 42 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicole M. Baran
Keyword(s):  
Animal Models ◽  
Mental Disorders ◽  
Environmental Factors ◽  
Neuropsychiatric Disorders ◽  
Model Organisms ◽  
Developmental Genetic ◽  
Term Study ◽  
Genetic And Environmental Factors ◽  
Mechanisms Of Plasticity

AbstractReductionist thinking in neuroscience is manifest in the widespread use of animal models of neuropsychiatric disorders. Broader investigations of diverse behaviors in non-model organisms and longer-term study of the mechanisms of plasticity will yield fundamental insights into the neurobiological, developmental, genetic, and environmental factors contributing to the “massively multifactorial system networks” which go awry in mental disorders.

The relationship between brain structure and general psychopathology in preadolescents

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Louise Mewton ◽  
Briana Lees ◽  
Lindsay Squeglia ◽  
Miriam K. Forbes ◽  
Matthew Sunderland ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mental Disorders ◽  
Surface Area ◽  
Brain Structure ◽  
Parental Education ◽  
Mental Illnesses ◽  
General Psychopathology ◽  
Control Approach ◽  
Cortical Volume ◽  
Subcortical Regions ◽  
The Relationship

Categorical mental disorders are being recognized as suboptimal targets in clinical neuroscience due to poor reliability as well as high rates of heterogeneity within, and comorbidity between, mental disorders. As an alternative to the case-control approach, recent studies have focused on the relationship between neurobiology and latent dimensions of psychopathology. The current study aimed to investigate the relationship between brain structure and psychopathology in the critical preadolescent period when psychopathology is emerging. This study included baseline data from the Adolescent Brain and Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study® (n = 11,721; age range = 9-10 years; male = 52.2%). General psychopathology, externalizing, internalizing, and thought disorder dimensions were based on a higher-order model of psychopathology and estimated using Bayesian plausible values. Outcome variables included global and regional cortical volume, thickness, and surface area. Higher levels of psychopathology across all dimensions were associated with lower volume and surface area globally, as well as widespread and pervasive alterations across the majority of cortical and subcortical regions studied, after adjusting for sex, race/ethnicity, and parental education. The relationships between general psychopathology and brain structure were attenuated when adjusting for cognitive functioning. There was evidence of a relationship between externalizing psychopathology and frontal regions of the cortex that was independent of general psychopathology. The current study identified lower cortical volume and surface area as transdiagnostic biomarkers for general psychopathology in preadolescence. The widespread and pervasive relationships between general psychopathology and brain structure may reflect cognitive dysfunction that is a feature across a range of mental illnesses.

Investigation of the role of anxiety and depression on the formation of phantom vibration and ringing syndrome induced by working stress during medical internship (Preprint)

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yu-Hsuan Lin ◽  
Kuan-I Lin ◽  
Yuan-Chien Pan ◽  
Sheng-Hsuan Lin
Keyword(s):  
Anxiety And Depression ◽  
Depression And Anxiety ◽  
Prospective Longitudinal Study ◽  
Work Related ◽  
Working Stress ◽  
Causal Mediation Analysis ◽  
Accompanying Symptoms ◽  
Prospective Longitudinal ◽  
The Relationship

BACKGROUND Phantom vibrations syndrome (PVS) and phantom ringing syndrome (PRS) are prevalent hallucinations during medical internship. Depression and anxiety are probably understudied risk factors of PVS and PRS. OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to investigate the role of anxiety and depression on the relationship between working stress during medical internship and PVS and PRS. METHODS A prospective longitudinal study of 74 medical interns was carried out using repeated investigations of the severity of phantom vibrations and ringing, as well as accompanying symptoms of anxiety and depression as measured by Beck Anxiety Inventory and the Beck Depression Inventory before, at the 3rd, 6th, and 12th month during internship, and 2 weeks after internship. We conducted a causal mediation analysis to investigate the role of depression and anxiety in the mechanism of working stress during medical internship inducing PVS and PRS. RESULTS The results showed that depression explained 21.9% and 8.4% for stress-induced PRS and PVS, respectively. In addition, anxiety explained 15.0% and 7.8% for stress-induced PRS and PVS, respectively. CONCLUSIONS Our findings showed both depression and anxiety can explain a portion of stress-induced PVS and PRS during medical internship and might be more important in clinical practice and benefit to prevention of work-related burnout.

Attention

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicolas Bommarito
Keyword(s):  
Mental Disorders ◽  
Attention Deficit ◽  
Attention Deficit Disorder ◽  
Moral Character ◽  
Moral Concern ◽  
Moral Value ◽  
The Relationship

After a brief overview of the nature of attention, I argue that attention (and inattention) can be morally virtuous or vicious independently of associated overt actions. This is not, as others have claimed, because attention itself has moral value, but because attention can manifest underlying moral concern. After discussing the relationship between attention and concern, I discuss problematic cases related to mental disorders, in particular attention-deficit disorder and scrupulosity. I then apply the account to particular virtues associated with attention: modesty and gratitude. Gratitude, I argue, involves attention to our benefits and their sources, while modesty involves special patterns of attention away from our own good qualities. This account best explains how attention can be relevant to moral character.

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