Chronic oral carbamazepine treatment elicits mood-stabilising effects in mice.

Objective: The underlying biology of bipolar disorder and the mechanisms by which effective medications induce their therapeutic effects are not clear. Appropriate use of animal models are essential to further understand biological mechanisms of disease and treatment, and further understanding the therapeutic mechanism of mood stabilisers requires that clinically relevant administration will be effective in animal models. The clinical regimens for mood-stabilising drugs include chronic oral administration; however, much of the work with animal models includes acute administration via injection.