A common complaint of people exposed to various neurotoxic substances is that they experience emotional or affective behavioral changes. Occasionally, mood changes or other emotional disorders are seen at low levels of exposure and are one of the earliest complaints expressed. Very little animal work has focused on this aspect of neurotoxicity.
Opportunities exist to study the effects of neurotoxic compounds on affective behavior.
A better understanding of the neurobiological basis of the animal model of affective behavior is advantageous because it will help us to study mechanisms of action of neurotoxic compounds and to develop detailed biologically based dose-effect models.