Neurochem. Int. Vol. 23, No. 6, pp. 595~596, 1993 Pergamon Press Ltd. Printed in Great Britain

BOOK REVIEWS

Animal Models of Drug Addiction (Neuromethods 24). Edited by ALAN A. BOULTON, GLEN B. BAKER and PETER H. Wu. ISBN0-89603-217-5. Published by H u m a n a Press, New Jersey, U.S.A. 1992. pp. 436+xxii . Price U.S. $104.

Kalant, in the Preface to the most recent monograph in the series edited by Alan Boulton and Glen Baker, succinctly summarizes the semantic and technical problems that inves- tigators face in studying animal models of addiction. While there is general agreement that addiction implies drug seek- ing and drug taking behaviour that is strongly motivated by reinforcing the centrally acting effects of a drug, the definition of a "model" is more difficult to define. An animal model of addiction may nevertheless be defined as one that replicates all the factors contributing to the production o f addiction in man, that reproduces in animals the essential components of addiction seen in man and therefore permits a valid and detailed analysis of the underlying mechanisms, their poss- ible prevention and treatment, by methods that are not phys- ically or ethically permissible in man. However, it must be recognized that social factors play a crucial role in addiction in man which are, due to the complexity of human social relationships, almost impossible to emulate in animals. While animal models of addiction must therefore be seen only as a crude approximation to human addiction, they do enable the researcher to explore the neuronal mechanisms that may underline addiction and also permit studies of the inter- actions between the behavioural, genetic and environmental influences that are essential components of addiction in man. In the 11 chapters that constitute this monograph, the most important ones are animal models of alcohol addiction, barbiturate and benzodiazepine dependence, st imulant dependence (with particular emphasis on the amphetamines, cocaine, nicotine and caffeine), opiate dependence and behavioural changes induced by hallucinogens. The contents of this monograph undoubtedly require the serious attention of any researchers who wishes to use animals (particularly rodents) to investigate the \ dependence potential of any drtlg.

Fhe first 4 chapters are devoted to various models of alcohol consumption in the rat. Stewart and Grupp critically assess the various methods used to produce alcohol depen- dence in the adult rat. This is followed by a particularly Iuseful chapter on the genetic approach to the development

' o f an animal model by Kiianmaa, Hyytia and Sinclair, a theme which is extended by Harris and Crabbe. The fourth chapter on aspects of alcohol addiction is by Le, Mihic and Wu on methodological and experimental issues.

Despite the limitation of animal models of alcoholism, several models are now available to fulfill the essential criteria namely that

(1) the animal voluntarily self-administers alcohol in pharmacologically significant amounts

(2) tolerance is demonstrable and (3) dependence develops as evidenced by withdrawal

symptoms during subsequent forced abstinence from the drug.

Okamoto discusses the various animal models of barbiturate dependence describing the effects of chronic sedative bar- biturates administration on the mouse, rat, guinea pig, cat, dog and monkey. This chapter is followed by a succinct chapter on benzodiazepine tolerance and dependence mainly in rodents by the late Richard Lister.

The effects of stimulants on animal behaviour form the basis of three chapters. The first of these, by Roberts and Richardson, concentrates on the self-administration of psy- chomotor st imulants (cocaine and amphetamines) using pro- gressive ratio schedules of reinforcement. This is a par- ticularly useful chapter because it gives details of the practical methods describing how to undertake the experimental pro- cedures. Corrigall presents details of a rodent model for nicotine self-administration, whilst the final chapter in this volume gives a valuable overview of the effects of caffeine exposure during the perinatal period and subsequent behav- ioural development of animals and man. Linked to these chapters on the effects of stimulants, Glennon describes vari- ous animal models that have been developed for assessing hallucinogenic agents. It is somewhat surprising to find that the dependence potential of the cannabinoids hardly gets a mention in this otherwise complete chapter.

The Editors of Neuromethods No. 24 are to be con- gratulated for producing yet another fine monograph which is a "mus t " for all psychopharmacologists wishing to inves- tigate the complexities of drugs of abuse on the behaviour and neurochemistry of animals. The price may preclude most individuals from purchasing their own copy, but all Uni- versity libraries should be persuaded to subscribe to the Series on Neuromethods.

PROFESSOR B. E. LEONARD Profi, ssor Leonard is ProJessor oJ" Pharmacoloyy, Phar- macoloyy Department, University College, Galway, Ireland

Serotonin, the Cerebellum and Ataxia (1993) Edited by PAUL TROUILLAS and KJELL EUXE, Raven Press, New York. ISBN 0-88167-957-7. 398 pp., $124.00.

Serotonin has been the subject of neurobiological studies for a long time now, and great amounts of effort have been devoted, for example, in trying to understand its roles in psychiatry as well as in the control of the vasculature. Not much is known yet, however, about the extent of its involve- ment in locomotor systems, or, in particular, its function in the cerebellum in mediating locomotor impairments such as ataxia. This volume attempts to bring the reader up to date with respect to the latter. It is a compendium of papers presented at a meeting held in Lyons in 199l, and encom- passes the work of some 113 authors from many disciplines. As might be expected from a volume of this sort, it contains a mixed bag of papers of variable size, quality and readibility (they range from little more than two pages in one case to 36 for the introductory chapter), but the book does deliver

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