Much ongoing SUD genetic research is based on animal models170. There is disagreement regarding the translational value of animal models as a starting point in SUD genetic research and their predictive power with respect to clinical scenarios171. Investigators supporting the relevance to humans of animal models of addiction put forward examples of medications developed based on molecular targets and circuits facilitated by animal studies: naloxone and acamprosate for alcoholism, buprenorphine-naloxone for opioid addiction, and varenicline for nicotine addiction172. However, in 2019, the US National Institute on Mental Health (NIMH) released a new notice regarding the use of animals in mental health research173. Based on the main conclusion that there is not a true animal model of a psychiatric disorder, it was decided that NIMH-supported studies should not establish particular animal models to understand a human mental illness, but instead, investigate areas of biology of relevance to mental illnesses174. Conversely, the US National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) appears to prioritize the use of non-human animal models to understand the genomic architecture of SUDs and addictive behaviours172, 175–177.
