With an ever-increasing elderly population and the resultant rising levels of dementia-related disorders, preclinical research based on animal models is pivotal to our knowledge of underlying molecular mechanisms and drug discovery aiming at the development of therapeutic strategies alleviating or preventing the neurological devastation. In Animal Models of Dementia, expert researchers provide contributions that stress the importance of extensively validated animal models in drug discovery and development in order to predict clinical activity. Beginning with general aspects of animal modeling, related ethical issues, and essential methodological considerations, the highly detailed volume then continues with various levels of model validation, including pathological, behavioral, neurochemical, pharmacological, and imaging aspects, followed by sections focused on specific disorders, such as Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, metachromatic leukodystrophy and adrenoleukodystrophy, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, frontotemporal dementia as well as vascular dementia and more. As a volume in the renowned Neuromethods series, this book offers a detailed, yet accessible, overview of currently available animal models in the field of dementia research, and touches, as well, upon more general areas linked to the development and use of animal models. Comprehensive and efficient, Animal Models of Dementia will significantly aid both experienced animal researchers as well as investigators on the verge of beginning animal model-based dementia research.

The costs associated with a drug's clinical trials are so significant that it has become necessary to validate both its safety and efficacy in animal models prior to the continued study of the drug in humans. Featuring contributions from distinguished researchers in the field of cognitive therapy research, Animal Models of Cognitive Impairmen

Senile dementia is one of the major health problems confronting mankind in this century. To some extent the problem has, of course, always existed. The condition was sufficiently troubling to classical philosophers and jurists to have apparently provoked comments by Solon in approximately 500 B. C. and Plato in the fourth century B. C. (Plutarch 1967 translation; Plato 1921 translation). Medical recognition can be traced at least as far back as the second century A. D. (Adams 1861). However, several factors have converged in this century to extend the absolute dimensions of the problem of senile dementia and to increase societal, medical, and scientific recogni tion of the magnitude of the condition. Perhaps the most important factor relating to the present importance of senile dementia is demographic. Although the human population has been increasing since the mid-eighteenth century, it has only been since the advent of the twentieth century that a decrease in mortality has been noted for those over the age of 45 (McKeown 1976). Consequently, the absolute number of aged persons and the proportion of increasingly aged persons in the populations of the world's industrial nations have been steadily increasing. For example, in the United States, 4% ofthe population was over the age of 65 in 1900. In the 1970 census, this proportion had grown to 10%.

With an ever-increasing elderly population and the resultant rising levels of dementia-related disorders, preclinical research based on animal models is pivotal to our knowledge of underlying molecular mechanisms and drug discovery aiming at the development of therapeutic strategies alleviating or preventing the neurological devastation. In Animal Models of Dementia, expert researchers provide contributions that stress the importance of extensively validated animal models in drug discovery and development in order to predict clinical activity. Beginning with general aspects of animal modeling, related ethical issues, and essential methodological considerations, the highly detailed volume then continues with various levels of model validation, including pathological, behavioral, neurochemical, pharmacological, and imaging aspects, followed by sections focused on specific disorders, such as Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, metachromatic leukodystrophy and adrenoleukodystrophy, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, frontotemporal dementia as well as vascular dementia and more. As a volume in the renowned Neuromethods series, this book offers a detailed, yet accessible, overview of currently available animal models in the field of dementia research, and touches, as well, upon more general areas linked to the development and use of animal models. Comprehensive and efficient, Animal Models of Dementia will significantly aid both experienced animal researchers as well as investigators on the verge of beginning animal model-based dementia research.

Using the most well-studied behavioral analyses of animal subjects to promote a better understanding of the effects of disease and the effects of new therapeutic treatments on human cognition, Methods of Behavior Analysis in Neuroscience provides a reference manual for molecular and cellular research scientists in both academia and the pharmaceutic

Animal experimentation has been one of the most controversial areas of animal use, mainly due to the intentional harms inflicted upon animals for the sake of hoped-for benefits in humans. Despite this rationale for continued animal experimentation, shortcomings of this practice have become increasingly more apparent and well-documented. However, these limitations are not yet widely known or appreciated, and there is a danger that they may simply be ignored. The 51 experts who have contributed to Animal Experimentation: Working Towards a Paradigm Change critically review current animal use in science, present new and innovative non-animal approaches to address urgent scientific questions, and offer a roadmap towards an animal-free world of science.