A Method to the Madness: Producing the Neonatal Ventral Hippocampal Lesion Rat Model of Schizophrenia

The neonatal ventral hippocampal lesion (NVHL) rat model of schizophrenia has demonstrated broad heuristic utility as an investigative platform encompassing many of the behavioral, neurobiological, and developmental aspects of this devastating neuropsychiatric illness affecting 1% of all human beings. This chapter serves as an essential description of materials and methods for generating and verifying the NVHL model in rats, which continues to hold significant potential in helping us understand schizophrenia, co-morbid disorders, and their neurodevelopmental dynamics. Many of the approaches described here can be modified or adapted for producing other types of neurodevelopmental models of behavioral disorders.