Contribution of animal models to deep brain stimulation research in movement and psychiatric disorders

Abstract

Deep brain stimulation (DBS) has evolved through a dynamic interplay between clinical and pre-clinical research. Initially inspired by invasive clinical practices such as ablations, resections, and other lesion-based interventions, minimally-invasive electrical stimulation was subsequently discovered and explored across numerous clinical and pre-clinical investigations. As a result, both human subjects and animal models are commonly utilized to advance the understanding, refinement, and use cases of DBS and its new variants. In this review, we examine some of the most significant contributions of pre-clinical models to the development of DBS, while also addressing key translational challenges and considerations necessary to maximize the impact of these efforts in the clinic. We conclude that, although findings from animal studies are often difficult to directly apply in the clinical setting, they remain an essential complementary strategy for uncovering DBS insights that would be impractical or unethical to pursue with human trials.