Animal models of stress and stress-related neurocircuits: A comprehensive review

Stress is considered to be one of the common pathogenic factors leading to mental disorders. Acute severe stress events or chronic distress could lead to depression and psychiatric disorders. Therefore, the establishment of stress animal models in the laboratory to mimic the stress suffering in humans would be beneficial for better understanding the etiology and mechanisms underlying stress-induced mental disorders. In addition, the development of powerful tools such as optogenetics and chemogenetics has made more rapid progress to reveal the critical neural circuits in regulating the pathogenesis of stress-induced disorders. This review firstly summarized the well-established different types of stress animal models widely used in the laboratory including acute stress models, chronic stress models, models of surgical stress, drug-induced stress models, and genetic mutation-associated stress models. Moreover, we also summarized the latest progress in understanding the characteristics and mechanisms of stress-related neurocircuits that are critical for discovering novel therapeutic strategies for stress-induced mental disorders.