An animal model for the study of the genetic bases of behaviour in men: the multiple marker strains (MMS)

Animal models are often used for preclinical research on the neurobiology o f psychiatric disorders. Whereas many are employed to screen new therapeuti c agents, few of them are used to study the genetic bases of psychiatric di seases, probably because of the complex genetic determinism underlying quan titative behavioral traits such as mood, personality or intelligence. The p resent article presents a short review introducing an analysis model using mice: the marker strains model. Using this model it is possible both to dis play genetic determinism data and to locate some of the chromosomal fragmen ts involved in the regulation of anxiogenic processes. At present it cannot accurately determine the position of one or more genes, but it does provid e a valuable means of 'scanning' the genome for an approximation. Through g enetic analysis, using the model. an attempt will be made to identify autos omal fragments which may be involved in two behavioural traits: anxiety and chemical-induced seizures. In this paper, after reviewing theoretical aspe cts of looking for genes involved in behaviour, we will successively introd uce studies in genetic topics in psychiatric human studies as well as appro priated behavioural animal studies. Then we will present a genetic model in mice which allows us to locate chromosomal fragments associated with a beh avioural trait: multiple marker strains. (C) 2001 Editions scientifiques et medicales Elsevier SAS.