Advantages of animal experimentation?
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Animal experimentation has distinct advantages, notably in advancing medical and psychological research. discusses the use of animal models, such as rats and mice, to study depression and learning. A common method involves observing the duration a rat will swim before giving up, known as the learned helplessness model. This model helps quantify behaviors related to depression, enabling researchers to test various drugs and their effects on extending or reducing the willingness to swim, paralleling human depressive behaviors. This allows for the assessment of potential treatments for depression in humans 1.
Furthermore, experimentation on animals can sometimes lead to unexpected insights. For instance, shared an experiment where traumatized animals placed back together worsened their condition, while those placed with non-traumatized animals improved. This provides a model for understanding PTSD and the dynamics of trauma recovery, potentially shaping therapeutic approaches for humans 2.
These examples underline the importance of animal experimentation in preclinical studies to understand complex conditions like depression and PTSD, ultimately guiding more effective human treatments.
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