The limitations of blood sampling in pharmacokinetic (PK)/pharmacodynamic (PD) studies in behavioral animal models could in part be overcome by a mixed effects modeling approach. This analysis characterizes and evaluates the population PK of fluvoxamine in rat plasma using nonlinear mixed effects modeling. The model is assessed for its utility in animal behavioral PK/PD studies. In six studies with a different experimental setup, study site and/or sampling design, rats received an intravenous infusion of 1, 3.7 or 7.3mg/kg fluvoxamine. A population three-compartment PK model adequately described the fluvoxamine plasma concentrations. Body weight was included as a covariate and mean population PK parameters for CL, V(1), V(2), Q(2), V(3) and Q(3) were 25.1 ml/min, 256 ml, 721 ml, 30.3 ml/min, 136 ml and 1.0 ml/min, respectively. Inter-individual variability was identified on CL (39.5%), V(1) (43.5%), V(2) (50.1%) and Q(2) (25.7%). A predictive check and bootstrap analysis confirmed the predictive ability, model stability and precision of the parameter estimates. Body weight was identified as a significant covariate of the inter-compartmental clearance Q(2). The pharmacokinetics was independent of factors such as dose, surgery (for instrumentation) and study site. The utility of the model in animal behavioral studies was demonstrated in a PK/PD analysis of the effects on REM sleep in which a sparse PK sampling design was used. By using the pertinent information from the population PK model, individual PK profiles and the PK/PD correlation could be adequately described.