Wang Gelu ^1,3, Dong Pei ^1,3, Wang Shenjun ^1,2

(1 Experimental Acupuncture and Moxibustion Research Center, Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine; 2 Acupuncture and Massage College of Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine; and 3 Graduate School of Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine)

Abstract: Chinese medicine treatment of depression has a good clinical efficacy, but the mechanism of action has not been elucidated. With the rapid development of science, there are more and more animal experiments on  Chinese  medicine  for  the  treatment  of  depression.  However,  the  establishment  of  animal  models  is diversified and there is a lack of uniform standards. Western animal model is the earliest used  to study the mechanism of disease, Chinese medicine in the process of internationalization trying to learn from Western animal  model  to  study  the  pathology  of  Chinese  medicine,  but  the  basic  theoretical  system  of  Western medicine are different. Therefore, the establishment of animal model of depression is consistent with Chinese medicine theory? This is a problem that we pay close attention to.

Key words: Depression, Chinese medicine, animal model