Perinatal Hypoxia and Ischemia in Animal Models of Schizophrenia

Intrauterine or perinatal complications constitute a major risk for psychiatric diseases. Infants who suffered from hypoxia-ischemia (HI) are at twofold risk to develop schizophrenia in later life. Several animal models attempt to reproduce these complications to study the yet unknown steps between an insult in early life and outbreak of the disease decades later. However, it is very challenging to find the right type and severity of insult leading to a disease-like phenotype in the animal, but not causing necrosis and focal neurological deficits. By contrast, too mild, repetitive insults may even be protective via conditioning effects. Thus, it is not surprising that animal models of hypoxia lead to mixed results. To achieve clinically translatable findings, better protocols are urgently needed. Therefore, we compare widely used models of hypoxia and HI and propose future directions for the field.