ABSTRACT
Starting in the late nineteenth century, neuroscientists began generating lesions using surgical, thermal, electrolytic, and toxicant means for scientific study of the effect of central nervous system injury on brain function. In addition to identifying anatomical regions of interest, scientists using early lesioning techniques began to recognize the behavioral similarities to known human neurological disorders and began to recognize the value of animal models. Since then, many new strategies have been identified to develop animal models with the hope of gaining insights into disease mechanism(s). It was hoped that through such knowledge of disease mechanisms, therapeutic modalities would emerge. Experience has now shown that an animal model need not replicate all neurological (i.e., behavioral, neurochemical, neuropathological) features of the human condition. In general, however, the overall utility of an animal model for a particular disease is often dependent on how closely the model replicates all or part of the human condition.
