The research group Behavioral Biology uses translational approaches to develop rodent models for psychiatric disorders, in particular stress-related and affective disorders. Similar to the human classification systems we first have tried todefine a rodent ”depressive syndrome” using specific behavioural paradigms. Depressive syndromes can be induced in rodents similarly as in humans by stress, by genetic alterations, by early childhood trauma and pharmacologically. In a second step we will try to define specific subgroups (endophenotypes) of depressive syndromes, in which certain clusters of symptoms or factors that induce depression prevail. These models will be used to identify neurobiological mechanisms that are important for the induction or maintenance of depressive episodes. Understanding these biological processes should help to develop more efficient and faster acting therapeutics for affective disorders.
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