ANIMAL MODELS FOR MITOCHONDRIAL DISEASE
PROTEIN WAS FOUND TO BE LOCALIZED TO THE NUCLEUS AND WAS ASSOCIATED WITH SLEEP CYCLE DISTURBANCES (SAWAMURA ET AL , 2008) IN ZEBRAFISH (WHICH NATURALLY EXPRESS A DISC- 1 ORTHOLOG), INTRACELLULAR SIGNALING PATHWAYS INVOLVING THIS GENE WERE CHARACTERIZED, AND THESE PATHWAYS WERE FOUND TO BE INVOLVED IN EMBRYOGENESIS, NEUROGENESIS, AND NEURONAL MIGRATION (DE RIENZO ET AL , 2011; DRERUP ET AL , 2009) A CERTAIN BEHAVIORAL CHARACTERISTIC EXPRESSED BY AN ANIMAL SPECIES MIGHT MAKE IT A USEFUL MODEL ANIMAL FOR EXAMPLE, TWO SPECIES OF VOLE, THE MONTANE AND PRAIRIE VOLE (MICROTUS MONTANUS AND MICROTUS OCHROGASTER, RESPECTIVELY), HAVE BEEN STUDIED IN THE CONTEXT OF NEURAL MECHANISMS UNDERLYING SOCIAL PAIR BONDING THESE TWO VOLE SPECIES ARE CLOSELY RELATED, YET ONE IS SEXUALLY MONOGAMOUS (THE PRAIRIE VOLE) WHILE THE OTHER IS NOT A COMPARISON OF THESE TWO SPECIES HAS REVEALED DIFFERENCES IN THE EXPRESSION AND FUNCTION OF NEUROPEPTIDE OXYTOCIN THAT ARE ASSOCIATED WITH THE CAPACITY FOR PAIR BONDING STUDIES HAVE IMPLICATED THIS NEUROPEPTIDE IN THE MORE GENERAL FUNC- TION OF SOCIAL ATTACHMENT, AND HAVE GENERATED HYPOTHESES ON THE INVOLVEMENT OF THIS NEUROPEPTIDE SYSTEM IN THE SYMPTOMATOLOGY OF AUTISM, AS WELL PROVIDED LEADS FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF NEW THERAPIES (STILL BEING INVESTIGATED) BASED ON THE PHARMACOLOGIC MODULATION OF THIS SYSTEM (YOUNG ET AL , 2011; PRETI ET AL , 2014) ALTHOUGH CURRENTLY THE MOST COMMON SPECIES FOR ANIMAL MODELING, THE MOUSE ENTERED THE SCIENTIFIC ARENA AS A SERENDIPITOUSLY USEFUL MODEL ANIMAL SOON AFTER THE “REDISCOVERY” OF GREGOR MENDEL’S WORK AROUND 1900, AN EFFORT BEGAN TO TEST THE AP- PLICABILITY OF MENDEL’S LAWS IN MAMMALS THE SO-CALLED FANCY MICE, WHICH WERE IN- BRED MOUSE LINES SELECTED FOR SPECIFIC COAT CHARACTERISTICS BY MOUSE ENTHUSIASTS, WERE ALREADY IN EXISTENCE AND PROVIDED AN IDEAL MODEL ANIMAL FOR SUCH GENETIC STUDIES AS THESE LINES ENTERED THE REALM OF SCIENCE, MATING PROGRAMS WERE ESTABLISHED IN ORDER TO DEVELOP LINES THAT EXPRESSED BIOMEDICALLY RELEVANT CHARACTERISTICS, AND THEREFORE THE MOUSE BECAME AN INVALUABLE TOOL FOR STUDYING THE GENETIC BASIS OF A PLETHORA OF MED- ICAL CONDITIONS SIMILARLY, THE DOMESTIC DOG WOULD APPEAR TO HAVE GREAT POTENTIAL AS A MODEL ANIMAL, DUE TO STRIKING AND CONSISTENT DIFFERENCES BETWEEN BREEDS WITH RESPECT TO VARIOUS BEHAVIORAL AND COGNITIVE TRAITS RELEVANT TO PSYCHOPATHOLOGY, SUCH AS AGGRESSION, ATTENTION, AND IMPULSIVITY THE ANOLE (ANOLIS CAROLINENSIS, A LIZARD SPECIES), SONGBIRD, AND RODENT HAVE BEEN UTILIZED AS MODEL ANIMALS FOR STUDYING THE ROLE OF BASAL GANGLIA IN THE GENERATION AND MODULATION OF STEREOTYPED BEHAVIORS, WHICH HAS RELEVANCE FOR ELUCI- DATING THE ROLE OF CORTICO-BASAL GANGLIA THALAMO-CORTICAL CIRCUITS IN THE SYMPTOMATOLOGY OF OBSESSIVE–COMPULSIVE AND OTHER MENTAL DISORDERS, SUCH AS AUTISM, THAT INVOLVE THE EXPRESSION OF REPETITIVE AND STEREOTYPED BEHAVIORS (BAXTER, 2003; BRAINARD AND DOUPE, 2013; ALDRIDGE AND BERRIDGE, 1998) THE DEER MOUSE (PEROMYSCUS MANICULATUS BAIRDII) AND BANK VOLE (CLETHRIONOMYS GLAREOLUS) ARE ALSO VALUABLE MODEL ANIMALS FOR STUDYING THE ONTOGENY OF STEREOTYPED BEHAVIOR, AS BOTH OF THESE SPECIES SPONTANEOUSLY DEVELOP MARKED STEREOTYPIES IN CAPTIVITY; THESE STEREOTYPIES ARE ASSOCIATED WITH IMPAIRED RE- SPONSE INHIBITION, WHICH IS A COGNITIVE ENDOPHENOTYPE OF OBSESSIVE–COMPULSIVE DISOR- DER (HOFFMAN, 2011; WOLMARANS ET AL , 2013; GARNER AND MASON, 2002) ANIMAL MODELS FOR MITOCHONDRIAL DISEASE