Rodent Models of Depression: Forced Swim and Tail Suspension Behavioral Despair Tests in Rats and Mice

Abstract

The development of antidepressants requires simple rodent behavioral tests for initial screening before undertaking more complex preclinical tests and clinical evaluation. Presented in the unit are two widely used screening tests used for antidepressants, the forced swim (also termed behavioral despair) test in the rat and mouse, and the tail suspension test in the mouse. These tests have good predictive validity and allow rapid and economical detection of substances with potential antidepressant-like activity. The behavioral despair and the tail suspension tests are based on the same principle: measurement of the duration of immobility when rodents are exposed to an inescapable situation. The majority of clinically used antidepressants decrease the duration of immobility. Antidepressants also increase the latency to immobility, and this additional measure can increase the sensitivity of the behavioral despair test in the mouse for certain classes of antidepressant. Testing of new substances in the behavioral despair and tail suspension tests allows a simple assessment of their potential antidepressant activity by the measurement of their effect on immobility.

Evidence for the involvement of NMDA receptors in the antidepressant-like effect of nicotine in mouse forced swimming and tail suspension tests

“…There is evidence showing that some drugs exert antidepressant effect in FST but not in TST, and vice versa. Also, the optimum dose and time of administration for the antidepressant effect of many agents differ in these two tests (Bourin et al 2005;Castagné et al 2011).…”

Prohedonic Effect of Cannabidiol in a Rat Model of Depression

“…Adult WKY rats demonstrated depression-like physiological symptoms such as reduced body weight and disturbed REM sleep [14], as well as ‘behavioral despair' and ‘anhedonia', two important criteria for the diagnosis of depression. These depression-like behavioral symptoms are demonstrated by increased immobility duration in the FST (a test of behavioral despair or alternatively a test sensitive to antidepressants [15]) and less consumption of a sweet solution in response to chronic mild and acute stress [12,13]. …”

Synthesis of benzimidazole based thiadiazole and carbohydrazide conjugates as glycogen synthase kinase-3β inhibitors with anti-depressant activity

“…These The forced swim test (FST) or despair swim test has been proposed as model to test for antidepressant activity by Vincent Castagne and co-workers's method. 30 The effect of immobility in the forced swim test results are shows in the Fig. 2.…”