Depression: From Animal Model to Therapeutic Management

Animal models are indispensable tools in the search to identify new antidepressant drugs and to provide insights into the neuropathology that underlies the idiopathic disease state of depression. Various paradigms have been developed and are instrumental in detecting the antidepressant-like potential of novel compounds in preclinical settings. The models commonly used are diverse and were developed originally based on the behavioral consequences of stress, drug, lesion or genetic manipulation. As new targets are developed, both serendipitous and through hypothesis-driven research, existing animal paradigms are being modified and new tests are being developed to detect antidepressant actions of compounds acting on a broad range of neural and genetic targets. This book is an attempt to club existing animal models with the treatment available in the management of depression so far.