Animal Models of Cognitive Impairment in Neurodegenerative and Organic Disorders
Animal models of mental disorders play an important role in the study of pathophysiological mechanisms of behavior and translation of these data for the identification of causes, biomarkers and potential treatments of mental disorders in humans. This article presents a review of literature on animal models of Alzheimer's disease, cognitive impairment in vascular dementia and organic brain disease. Pharmacological, genetic models, their mechanisms and typical manifestations are covered. While pharmacological models have been widely used in studies of pathogenesis and treatment of cognitive impairment for many years, more modern transgenic models with their advantages are becoming increasingly popular in recent years. Currently there is no model that would combine all the cognitive, behavioral, biochemical and histological characteristics of a particular type of dementia, but a variety of animal models gives a lot of opportunities for preclinical research.