精神疾患のマウスモデル—ニコチン依存症と統合失調症—

概要

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Animal models are essential for investigating the genetic and molecular mechanisms of human neuropsychiatric disorders. However, clinical scales designed for the diagnosis of neuropsychiatric disorders pose fundamental difficulties to the translation of animal study results into humans and vice versa. Diagnostic criteria outlined in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) and other clinical scales are widely used to define nicotine dependence and schizophrenia, but most of these criteria are human specific and, therefore, inapplicable in the validation of animal models. Moreover, categorical classifications provided by these scales ignore the often gradual development of many features associated with these disorders. Due to the difficulty of recapitulating the entire symptomatology of nicotine dependence and schizophrenia, animal studies are used to examine mechanisms underlying individual elements or features associated with these disorders. In retrospect, this approach has been advantageous for ascertaining the genetic basis of various features associated with nicotine dependence and schizophrenia. The future challenge is to reconstruct the clinical definitions of nicotine dependence and schizophrenia using newly discovered mechanisms associated with distinct features of these disorders.