About Neuroscience
- Scientists have only begun to understand the wonders of the nervous system, using increasingly sophisticated tools and techniques.
Brain Basics
- Learn the basics of how the brain’s 100 billion nerve cells are born, grow, connect, and function.
Sensing, Thinking & Behaving
- How do cell circuits enable us to read and speak? How and why do we form relationships? How do we think, remember, or despair?
Diseases & Disorders
- Discover causes of disorders of the brain and body, as well as the science enabling prevention or treatment.
Across the Lifespan
- From birth through old age, brain cells and the connections between them change in response to the environment.
In Society
- The study of the brain and nervous system applies to countless facets of daily life, from decisions about money and education, to the way we view ourselves and others.
- - In Society

Animals in Research

A roundworm, also known as Caenorhabditis elegans

Animal Models

Even animals with simple nervous systems can help us learn about how our own nervous system works.

Introduction

Neuroscientists aim to understand how the brain works and to advance treatments for diseases and disorders of the nervous system. This type of research requires investigating complex functions at all levels of the living nervous system. Because it is impossible to use humans for this work, neuroscientists turn to animals. Acting under regulations put forth by governmental agencies, scientists use animals to discover how diseases and their potential therapies affect the entire body — experimental procedures that are often difficult, if not impossible, to replicate with alternative methods.

Discoveries

Retinal photographs show how the eyes of a healthy patient and an individual with Leber congenital amaurosis differ.

Animal Research Success: Blindness and the Retina

Source: Society for Neuroscience

Research on dogs has enabled scientists to develop a potential cure that could someday restore vision to people – and dogs – with leber congenital amaurosis.

Illustration of the brain's reward pathway

Animal Research Success: Drug Addiction

Source: Society for Neuroscience

Animal research has helped scientists better understand how repeated drug use changes the brain, resulting in new treatments for addiction.

The accumulation of misfolded proteins forming plaques

Animal Research Success: Prion Diseases

Source: Society for Neuroscience

There is no cure for prion diseases, such as "mad cow" disease, however, researchers’ increased understanding of these diseases has had positive benefits for both humans and animals.