Name: the forced swim test as a model of depressive-like behavior
Uploaded: 2015-03-02T15:00:00
Description: Watch this Scientific Journal Video about The Forced Swim Test as a Model of Depressive-like Behavior at JoVE.com

This research was supported by the Israel Science Foundation (grant No. 738/11), by the National Institute for Psychobiology in Israel (NIPI-7-2011-12), and by the Open University Foundation

NOTE: All experimental protocols were approved by the International Committee for Animal Care and Use in Israel. All efforts were made to minimize the number of animals used and their suffering.
1. Preparation for the Forced Swim Test
<ol>
	<li>Use two adjacent rooms. Use one room as a &#8220;waiting room&#8221; for holding the animals prior to behavioral testing, and the other for carrying out the procedure.</li>
	<li>Prepare transparent cylindrical glass containers (the only restriction fo...

The FST is used to monitor depressive-like behavior and is based on the assumption that immobility reflects a measure of behavioral despair 3. The main advantages of this procedure lie in its relatively easy operation and fast results. Moreover, its sensitivity to a broad range of antidepressant drugs that makes it a suitable screening test is one of the most important features leading to its high predictive validity 29. Importantly, this test can also differentiate between drugs that are not aimed ...

Depression is a life-threatening psychiatric disorder and a major public health concern worldwide with an incidence of 5% and a lifetime prevalence of 15-20%. Moreover, it is estimated that by 2020 depression will be in the top three contributors to the burden of disease1,2. Depression is associated with disability, decreased quality of life, increased health-related costs and is considered a main risk factor for many diseases, including cardiovascular, metabolic and neuropsychiatric disorders3,4.Current pharmaco-therapeutic treatments have limited efficacy and are associated with many deleterious side effects5,6. Therefore, a better understanding of the pathophysiology of this disorder alongside with the development of innovative and improved treatments remains crucial. Hence, animal models are essential for advancing research in this field.
There are many models used for the study of this disorder (e.g. sucrose preference test, tail suspension test) with the forced swimming test (FST, also known as Porsolt&#8217;s test after the developer of this model 7,8) being one of the most commonly used assays 7,9-12.
During the FST an animal is placed in a container filled with water from which it cannot escape. The animal will first try to escape but eventually will exhibit immobility (i.e. floating with the absence of any movement except for those necessary for keeping the nose above water). The FST is a very popular model in animal research for a number of reasons. First, it involves the exposure of the animals to stress, which was shown to have a role in the tendency for major depression 12-14. Moreover depression is often viewed as a lack of ability to handle with stress 15-17. Second, pharmacological treatment with antidepressants prior to the test has been shown to reduce immobility in the FST 18-23. Therefore, it is often used as a screening assay for novel compounds with potential antidepressant properties 15-17,24. Additionally, the FST has been shown to share some of the factors that are influenced or altered by depression in humans, such as changes in food consumption, sleep abnormalities and drug-withdrawal-induced anhedonia 15-17,24. This is also the reason why this test is sometimes used to evaluate depressive-like behavior in mutant mice, with increase or decrease in basal immobility (compared to &#8216;wild-type&#8217; mice) 25,26.

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the forced swim test as a model of depressive-like behavior

The goal of the present protocol is to describe the forced swim test (FST), which is one of the most commonly used assays for the study of depressive-like behavior in rodents. The FST is based on the assumption that when placing an animal in a container filled with water, it will first make efforts to escape but eventually will exhibit immobility that may be considered to reflect a measure of behavioral despair. This test has been extensively used because it involves the exposure of the animals to stress, which was shown to have a role in the tendency for major depression. Additionally, the FST has been shown to share some of the factors that are influenced or altered by depression in humans, including changes in food consumption, sleep abnormalities and drug-withdrawal-induced anhedonia. The main advantages of this procedure are that it is relatively easy to perform and that its results are easily and quickly analyzed. Moreover, its sensitivity to a broad range of antidepressant drugs that makes it a suitable screening test is one of the most important features leading to its high predictive validity. Despite its appeal, this model has a number of disadvantages. First, the issue of chronic augmentation is problematic in this test because in real life patients need to be treated for at least several weeks before they experience any relief from their symptoms. Last, due to the aversiveness of the FST, it is important to take into account possible influences it might have on brain structure/function if brain analyses are to be carried out following this procedure.

The following results are based on unpublished data from our lab. In this experiment, adult ICR female mice were tested after 3 weeks of treatment with the selective serotonin reuptake Inhibitor (SSRI) escitalopram or novel herbal anti-depressive and anti-anxiety treatment (NHT) (for additional information regarding the herbal treatment, see 12,27,28). One-way ANOVA revealed that the treatment reduced depressive-like behavior in the FST [F(2,58) = 4.88, p &#60;0.05]. One-sided Dunnet analysis revealed that tre...

Watch this Scientific Journal Video about The Forced Swim Test as a Model of Depressive-like Behavior at JoVE.com

The Forced Swim Test as a Model of Depressive-like Behavior

This protocol describes the forced swim test, which is used for the study of depressive-like behavior in rodents. This procedure involves placing an animal in a container filled with water that eventually will lead to the exhibition of immobility behavior, which is considered to reflect behavioral despair.

The goal of the present protocol is to describe the forced swim test (FST), which is one of the most commonly used assays for the study of depressive-like ...

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