TITLE:
Scientific Interest of Social Behaviour in Animal Models of Human Diseases
AUTHORS:
Virginia Torres-Lista, Lydia Giménez-Llort
KEYWORDS:
Social Neuroscience; Animal Models; Basic and Translational Research; Neurodegenerative Diseases; Neuropsychiatric Disorders; Social Behaviour
JOURNAL NAME:
Neuroscience and Medicine,
Vol.4 No.1,
March
14,
2013
ABSTRACT: The
overview shows that the scientific interest in social behaviour in mice has
exponentially grown in the last two decades
in parallel with advances in biotechnology and the emergence of genetically
engineered mice. Most of the studies are
psychopharmacological or look for the neurochemical bases of social behaviour
and its alterations. However, the rol of social behaviour per se is increasing mainly in those research works aimed to model
neuropsychiatric and neurode-generative diseases. In fact, at
the translational level, the study of social behaviour in murine models is
relevant because changes in social behaviour are present in most
neuropsychiatric and neurodegenerative disorders as well as in other diseases
that, directly or indirectly, affect the
sphere of social relationships. The consideration of social behaviour in the
experimental design of basic and translational research works using murine
models may improve the predictive validity of new preventive and/or therapeutic
strategies. The present work provides conceptual description of social
behaviour in mice, the tests used to measure it and analyzes its increasing
interest, mostly in the area of neuroscience. It reviews the 821 scientific
studies (in English) included in the MEDLINE database from 1930 to December
2012. Keywords used for the search where those related to the
different kinds of social behaviour (spontaneous or induced) in mice and took
into account the diversity of experimental paradigms (dyads, groups, parental
relationships, isolation) and the wide spectrum of behavioural tests available.