Animal model is very important in biomedical research. Prior to apply in human or other primates, experiments using lower animals model such as rodents must be conducted (preclicical studies). Wistar rats (Rattus norvegicus Berkenhout, 1769) are used extensively for in vivo studies, particularly in physiology. However, their normal hematology profile for baseline or control has not been yet available locally. Many researchers adopt data from general references such as clinical or laboratory manual books, journals, textbooks, or other resources, which definitely affect the validity of their results. This study was carried out to provide normal hematology profile of male and female Wistar rats bred in animal house of Laboratorium Penelitian dan Pengujian Terpadu Universitas Gadjah Mada (LPPT-UGM). Subjects were four-, six-, and eight-week-old rats, representative for juvenile/ immature, preadult, and adult/mature, respectively. Procedures following routine standard method in hematology: blood withdrawal from sinus retro-orbitalis of ketamine-anesthetized animals and analysis using Hematology Analyzer. Variables were number of erythrocytes, hemoglobin, hematocrit, number of leukocytes and differential count, number of thrombocytes, and body mass. Results indicated that hematology profile and body mass of rats from different sex and different age were varied. It is fundamental to have local baseline data, which directly come from animal house. Adoption from other references should be avoid due to generality or unspecified animal, lack of information on methods, and some works have already outdated. Different sex, age, environmental factors, and method affect physiological condition in animals, result in different hematology profile.

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Stress is a psychiatric/psychological disorder characterized by a sense of disability, despair, anhedonia, decreased activity, and pessimism. Stress can affect the physiological condition of the body with symptoms of lipid metabolism disorders. Chlorella vulgaris is a microalgae that is known to have the potential as an alternative antidepressant drug. The study was conducted to determine the lipid profile of blood wistar strain rats after stress induction and the effect of administration of Chlorella vulgaris on blood lipid profiles of stress-induced wistar rats. This research is an experimental study using 5 treatments with 25 models of Rattus norvegicus wistar strain, 2 months old. The treatment group consisted of 1 control group, 1 stress group, and 3 groups of treatment variations, namely the treatment of antidepressant medication, the treatment of administration of cultivated Chlorella vulgaris, and the treatment of commercial Chlorella. Stress induction is carried out by treatments that given to the rats randomly, namely cold water, warm water, wet cage, dark-light cycle, and sound wave exposure for 40 days. Examination of blood lipid profiles was carried out on Day 0 after mice were acclimated, day 40 after rats were induced stress, and day 56 after rats were given treatment of cultivated Chlorella vulgaris. The results obtained were the stress conditions of the lipid profile of the wistar strain of rats which had increased were total cholesterol levels of the control group and triglyceride levels in all groups while those who had decreased were cholesterol levels other than the control group, HDL levels in all groups, and LDL levels all groups. Giving Chlorella vulgaris had effect on decreasing total cholesterol levels, triglyceride levels, and LDL levels along with increasing HDL levels.

Depression is a disabling mental disorder, predicted to become the world's number 2 disability by 2020 by the World Health Organization (WHO, 2018). Chronic stress is one of the triggers for depression, causing an imbalance in brain chemicals and antioxidants levels. Although antidepressant is a common treatment, discomforting side effects has compromised its efficacy, prompting the search for alternative medicines. Chlorella vulgaris is a microalgae famous for its excellent protein and antioxidant content. In this study, C. vulgaris (360 mg/kg p.o.) potency of antidepressant in chronic unpredictable mild stress (CUMS) model of depression in female rats was evaluated compared to amitriptyline (2,25 mg/kg p.o.) for 14 days. Two types of C. vulgaris namely cultivation sourced and commercially-sold, were used. Sucrose preference test, forced swim test (FST) and open field test (OFT) were used as depression-like behaviour test to validate C. vulgaris effect. Adrenal glands were observed to further understand its effect on the stress organ. The CUMS method produced rats with depressivelike behaviour evidently by reduced body weight, sucrose preference, exploring behaviour in OFT, and increased immobility duration in FST. Furthermore, an increase in adrenal weight, fasciculata zone, and reticularis zone was observed. Both C. vulgaris significantly (p<0,05) reversed depressive-like behaviour in rats subjected to CUMS, but not the size of adrenal glands. This finding indicated both types of C. vulgaris has the potential to be an alternative antidepressant but because of the short duration of treatment, it's speculated that C. vulgaris may not have exhibited enough difference structurally yet.