Abstract: Abstract: Establishment of animal models of schizophrenia was critical for both understanding the mechanisms underlying this severe mental disease and developing new antipsychotics. This review thoroughly described the theory and neural substrate of the latent inhibition model of schizophrenia. The main methods for inducing latent inhibition abnormality in experimental animals included (1) modulations of neurotransmissions that were closely associated with schizophrenia, (2) focal lesions or pharmacological manipulations of brain structures in the meso-nucleus accumbens neural circuit, and (3) immune stimulus or isolated stress during early development.

Key words: animal model of schizophrenia, latent inhibition, meso-nucleus accumbens neural circuit