The effects of chronic stress on the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical (HPA) axis were studied in five inbred rat strains, i.e. Brown Norway (BN), Fischer (FIS), Lewis (LEW), Spontaneously Hypertensive (SHR) and Wistar Kyoto (WKY). Previously, these rat strains had been shown to display clear behavioral differences in the forced swimming test that presumably measures depression-like behavior, BN and WKY being more passive than the other strains. Here we test the hypothesis that the differences in behavioral immobility might be associated with an abnormal HPA response to chronic immobilization (IMO) stress. In stress-naive rats under basal conditions (morning) there were no differences among strains in adrenal weight, serum adrenocorticotropin hormone (ACTH) and corticosterone (B) levels, corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF) mRNA in the hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus (PVN) and hippocampal glucocorticoid and mineralocorticoid receptor (GR and MR) mRNA. After chronic IMO, basal serum ACTH levels were increased in LEW, SHR and WKY, but not in BN or FIS rats, whereas basal B levels were increased in BN, FIS, SHR and WKY rats, but not in LEW. The increase in adrenal weight was also strain dependent and correlated negatively with chronic IMO-induced hypercorticosteronemia. These peripheral differences among strains were not observed at central levels. Thus, chronic IMO increased the CRF mRNA content in the PVN, analyzed by in situ hybridization, similarly in all strains. In addition, after chronic IMO no differences were found among strains in hippocampal GR mRNA and RM mRNA contents. Considering data from all strains together, chronic IMO reduced the GR mRNA (50-60%) content in the hippocampal CA1, CA3 and DG areas, and slightly diminished (11–13%) MR mRNA levels in CA1 and CA3 areas. The present results indicate that: (i) chronic IMO down-regulates GR mRNA in the hippocampus and slightly up-regulates CRF mRNA in the hypothalamic PVN similarly in all strains; (ii) after chronic IMO interstrain differences were observed in serum ACTH and B levels as well as adrenal hypertrophy; (iii) some changes are probably located at the adrenal level since changes in serum B level and adrenal weight were not related to changes in ACTH; (iv) in LEW and WKY rats, B hyporesponsiveness to chronic IMO might be linked to low adrenal sensitivity to ACTH, and (v) HPA axis changes induced by the chronic IMO procedure are not related to previously reported data on depressive-like behavior of BN and WKY in the forced swimming test.

No abstract

In three experiments we have studied the effects of acute administration of various doses (5, 10, 15 and 25 mg/kg) of desipramine (DMI) and two doses (0.5 and 2 mg/kg) of 8-hydroxy-2-(di-n-propylamino)tetralin (8-OH-DPAT), a selective 5HT1A receptor agonist, on behaviour of five inbred strains of rats in the holeboard and the forced swimming test (FST). The strains were Brown-Norway (BN), Fischer 344 (FIS), Lewis (LEW), Spontaneously Hypertensive Rats (SHR) and Wistar-Kyoto (WKY). In drug-free conditions, the strains showed striking differences in their activity in the holeboard and in the FST, the WKY rats being the most passive in both tests. The dose of 15 mg/kg DMI caused a profound inhibitory effect on locomotor/exploration activity in all strains. In the FST, this dose of DMI increased struggling and reduced immobility in BN, FIS and LEW rats, but did not exert any effect in SHR and WKY rats. The lack of marked strain-dependent differences in the sensitivity to the inhibitory effects of DMI on locomotor activity or exploration rule out a major role of changes in the metabolism of drug among strains as an explanation for differential response to DMI in the FST. In further experiments three strains were used: BN (responsive), WKY (non-responsive) and the outbred Sprague Dawley (SD) rats. In the FST, both DMI and 8-OH-DPAT, at all doses, decreased immobility and increased struggling in BN and SD rats. However, WKY rats responded only to a very high dose of DMI (25 mg/kg). Hence, WKY rats are not only passive in the FST, but are also subsensitive to acute antidepressant administration. The present data indicate that the levels of activity of animals in the FST in drug-free conditions are not predictive of their response to antidepressants, and that inbred strains might be useful for studying the biological basis of subsensitivity to antidepressants and depressive-like behaviour.

No abstract

Fawn-hooded (FH) rats have been reported to have high basal corticosterone levels that can be normalized by antidepressant administration. In the present work, some behavioural and endocrine aspects were compared in FH and Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats. No interstrain differences in basal corticosterone levels or response to acute tail-cut stress were observed either in the morning or in the evening. Relative adrenal weight was lower in FH than SD, and relative thymus weight was, accordingly, higher in FH than SD rats. FH rats were hyperactive in the holeboard and showed behaviour similar to that of SD in the plus-maze. In contrast, FH rats showed greater levels of active behaviour (struggling) and lower levels of immobility than SD rats in the forced swimming test (FST). After desipramine (DMI) administration the differences between the two strains in the FST were more marked than in vehicle-treated animals. These results indicate that FH rats show no signs of pituitary-adrenal (PA) hyperactivity or depression-like behaviour, and therefore they are not an appropriate animal model of depression.