Yes, but it might make sense to do a very well structured case-control study using mouse or rat models. There are well over 200 highly diverse lines of mice th

Yes, but it might make sense to do a very well structured case-control study using mouse or rat models. There are well over 200 highly diverse lines of mice that could be split into isogenic cases and controls by sex, age, and any other instrumental variable (diet, enrichment). We have many objective ways to quantify rodent health and behavior. Admittedly, there is no “happiness” metric that is translationally relevant to humans, but at least with rodents we can critically evaluate what goes on in the CNS at molecular and synaptic levels with and without drug X. Mice and rats are in the same Supraprimate superoder (the euarchonta) with monkeys and apes. They are also fine for rigorous case-control studies of drug effects, IF and ONLY IF the study includes a high level of genetic variation among the rodents that will model hunan genetic and biochemical diversity. Unfortunately, typical rodent studies of just a single inbred type of mouse or rat are of modest translational relevance to humans.