Journal
ILAR JOURNAL
Volume 55, Issue 2, Pages 259-273Publisher
OXFORD UNIV PRESS
DOI: 10.1093/ilar/ilu030
Keywords
animal models; primate; depression; early experience; Diathesis-Stress; Two-Hit; serotonin; hippocampus
Categories
Funding
- NIH [P51 OD010425, R24OD01180-15]
- University of Washington, Seattle
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Depression causes significant morbidity in the human population. The Diathesis-Stress/Two-Hit model of depression hypothesizes that stress interacts with underlying (probably genetic) predispositions to produce a central nervous system that is primed to express psychopathology when confronted with stressful experiences later in life. Nonhuman primate (NHP) studies have been extensively utilized to test this model. NHPs are especially useful for studying effects of early experience, because many aspects of NHP infancy are similar to humans, whereas development occurs at an accelerated rate and therefore allows for more rapid assessment of experimental variables. In addition, the ability to manipulate putative risk factors, including introducing experimental stress during development, allows inference of causality not possible with human studies. This manuscript reviews experimental paradigms that have been utilized to model early adverse experience in NHPs, including peer-rearing, maternal separation, and variable foraging. It also provides examples of how this model has been used to investigate the effects of early experience on later neurobiology, physiology, and behavior associated with depression. We conclude that the NHP offers an excellent model to research mechanisms contributing to the Diathesis-Stress/Two-Hit model of depression.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available