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Did we finally find a good animal model for bipolar disorder?

Molecular Psychiatry volume 28, pages 2622–2623 (2023)Cite this article

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Bipolar disorder (BD) is a severe and chronic mental illness that affects approximately 1–4% of the world’s world population [1]. BD is ranked by the World Health Organization as a top disorder of morbidity and lost productivity due to its 50% psychotic symptoms and 15% suicide rate [2]. Currently, patients are treated primarily with mood stabilizers, such as lithium and valproate, in conjunction with antidepressants or antipsychotic medications, but many patients continue to suffer from intra-episodic symptoms as well as full-blown episodes which remain untreated. In addition, a lack of understanding of the mechanisms and pharmacology of existing therapeutics for BD makes the development of new therapies challenging [3, 4]. Therefore, animal models are indispensable for expanding our understanding of BD pathology to develop novel therapeutic approaches and optimize patient care.

The use of animal models in psychiatry allows researchers to replicate the clinical features and natural behaviors associated with these illnesses under controlled conditions. In addition, since rodent models are physiologically similar to humans, they can be used to study the brain and how it functions in psychiatric disorders, as well as test hypotheses regarding their etiology and pathophysiology [5, 6]. However, developing animal models of psychiatric disorders is challenging because there is no precise etiology and physiopathology, and the diagnosis is performed exclusively by interview.

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Funding

The research funding support from the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, the Louis A. Faillace, MD Endowment Funds and the Translational Psychiatry Program to GS and JQ are acknowledged. Translational Psychiatry Program (USA) is funded by the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, McGovern Medical School at UTHealth and Linda Gail Behavioral Health Research Fund. Center of Excellence on Mood Disorders (USA) is funded by the Pat Rutherford Jr Chair in Psychiatry, the John S. Dunn Foundation and Anne and Don Fizer Foundation Endowment for Depression Research. Translational Psychiatry Laboratory (Brazil) is funded by grants from Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq), Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES), Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa e Inovação do Estado de Santa Catarina (FAPESC), Instituto Cérebro e Mente and the University of Southern Santa Catarina (UNESC).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Translational Psychiatry Laboratory, Graduate Program in Health Sciences, University of Southern Santa Catarina (UNESC), Criciúma, SC, Brazil

    Samira S. Valvassori & João Quevedo

  2. Center for Interventional Psychiatry, Faillace Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at McGovern Medical School, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth), Houston, TX, USA

    João Quevedo & Giselli Scaini

  3. Center of Excellence on Mood Disorders, Faillace Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at McGovern Medical School, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth), Houston, TX, USA

    João Quevedo & Giselli Scaini

  4. Translational Psychiatry Program, Faillace Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at McGovern Medical School, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth), Houston, TX, USA

    João Quevedo & Giselli Scaini

  5. Neuroscience Graduate Program, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center UTHealth Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Houston, TX, USA

    Giselli Scaini

Authors
  1. Samira S. Valvassori
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  2. João Quevedo
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  3. Giselli Scaini
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Contributions

SSV and JQ drafted the first version of this article, which was critically revised by GS. In total, both authors contributed equally to this work.

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Correspondence to Giselli Scaini.

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Valvassori, S.S., Quevedo, J. & Scaini, G. Did we finally find a good animal model for bipolar disorder?. Mol Psychiatry 28, 2622–2623 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41380-023-02151-7

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