The automated tail suspension test: A computerized device which differentiates psychotropic drugs

Stéru, L.; Chermat, R; Thierry, Bernard; Micó, J.A.; Lenègre, Antoine; Steru, Marius; Simon, Pierre; Porsolt, Roger D.

doi:10.1016/0278-5846(87)90002-9

Cited by 198 publications

(110 citation statements)

References 5 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

105

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Acute administration of tricyclic antidepressants and 5-HT reuptake inhibitors shortened immobility of these mice in the TST, as expected from a relevant model for screening potential antidepressants (9). Furthermore, chronic treatment with fluoxetine significantly reduced both the immobility in the TST and the sensitivity of somatodendritic 5-HT 1A autoreceptors in HL mice.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 59%

Behavioral, neurochemical, and electrophysiological characterization of a genetic mouse model of depression

Yacoubi

Bouali

Popa

et al. 2003

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

239

173

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Depression is a multifactorial illness and genetic factors play a role in its etiology. The understanding of its physiopathology relies on the availability of experimental models potentially mimicking the disease. Here we describe a model built up by selective breeding of mice with strikingly different responses in the tail suspension test, a stress paradigm aimed at screening potential antidepressants. Indeed, ''helpless'' mice are essentially immobile in the tail suspension test, as well as the Porsolt forced-swim test, and they show reduced consumption of a palatable 2% sucrose solution. In addition, helpless mice exhibit sleep-wakefulness alterations resembling those classically observed in depressed patients, notably a lighter and more fragmented sleep, with an increased pressure of rapid eye movement sleep. Compared with ''nonhelpless'' mice, they display higher basal seric corticosterone levels and lower serotonin metabolism index in the hippocampus. Remarkably, serotonin 1A autoreceptor stimulation induces larger hypothermia and inhibition of serotoninergic neuronal firing in the nucleus raphe dorsalis in helpless than in nonhelpless mice. Thus, helpless mice exhibit a decrease in serotoninergic tone, which evokes that associated with endogenous depression in humans. Finally, both the behavioral impairments and the serotoninergic dysfunction can be improved by chronic treatment with the antidepressant fluoxetine. The helpless line of mice may provide an opportunity to approach genes influencing susceptibility to depression and to investigate neurophysiological and neurochemical substrates underlying antidepressant effects.T he prevalence of depression worldwide is such that this disorder represents a major health problem. It is estimated, for example, that Ϸ10% of men and 20% of women in Western Europe will suffer from a major depressive episode at some time in their life. The monoamine hypothesis of depression suggests that one of the biological bases of affective disorders is a deficiency in the neurotransmitter serotonin (5-HT). During the past 40 yr, this hypothesis has been refined, as more experimental and clinical evidence has emerged. The selective 5-HT reuptake inhibitors, in particular, allowed important progress in our understanding of the role of 5-HT in depression. To some extent, the mechanism of action of 5-HT reuptake inhibitors, which are the most widely prescribed antidepressant drugs today, can be anticipated from our knowledge of the anatomy and chemistry of the central serotoninergic system. However, it must be accepted that extensive investigations have so far failed to find convincing evidence of a primary dysfunction of the serotoninergic system in patients with depression. Disturbances of sleep are typical for most depressed patients and belong to the core symptoms of the disorder. Polysomnographic sleep research has demonstrated that, besides disturbances of sleep continuity, depression is associated with a reduction of slow-wave sleep and a shortening of rapid eye movement (REM...

show abstract

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 59%

Behavioral, neurochemical, and electrophysiological characterization of a genetic mouse model of depression

Yacoubi

Bouali

Popa

et al. 2003

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

239

173

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Both experimental schemes are based on the observation that rodents, when forced into an aversive situation from which they cannot escape, will cease attempts to escape and become immobile. Antidepressants reduce the immobility time in these tests (Porsolt, 2000;Steru et al, 1987) indicating that these methods can be used to test for depression-related behavior in mice. In the forced-swimming test, as shown in Figure 1a, immobility time for GAT1 À/À mice was significantly lower than that of GAT1 + /À and GAT1 + / + animals (F(2,33) ¼ 63, po0.001) (Figure 1a).…”

Section: Reduced Depression-like Behaviors In Gat1-deficient Micementioning

confidence: 98%

Reduced Anxiety and Depression-Like Behaviors in Mice Lacking GABA Transporter Subtype 1

Liu

Cai

et al. 2006

Neuropsychopharmacol

117

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

g-Aminobutyric acid (GABA) transporter subtype 1 (GAT1), which transports extracellular GABA into presynaptic neurons, plays an important regulatory role in the function of GABAergic systems. However, the contributions of the GAT1 in regulating mental status are not fully understood. In this paper, we observed the behavioral alterations of GAT1 knockout (GAT1 À/À ) mice using several depressionand anxiety-related models (eg, the forced-swimming test and the tail-suspension test for testing depression-related behaviors; the openfield test, the dark-light exploration test, the emergence test, and the elevated plus maze (EPM) test for anxiety-related behaviors). Here we found that GAT1 À/À mice showed a lower level of depression-and anxiety-like behaviors in comparison to wild-type mice. Furthermore, GAT1 À/À mice exhibited measurable insensitivity to selected antidepressants and anxiolytics such as fluoxetine, amitriptyline, buspirone, diazepam, and tiagabine in the tail-suspension test and/or the EPM test. Moreover, the basal level of corticosterone was found to be significantly lower in GAT1 À/À mice. These results showed that the absence of GAT1 affects mental status through enhancing the GABAergic system, as well as modifying the serotonergic system and the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) activity in mice.

show abstract

“…injection of imipramine at the dose 30 mg/kg 30 min prior to the first exposure to a forced swim or modified tail suspension tests, or with vehicle (see Section 2.4) Behavior was scored as described below (see Sections 2.3.4 and 2.3.5). This scheme of pharmacological validation was adapted from originally published studies with tricyclics in these tests (Steru et al, 1985(Steru et al, , 1987Porsolt et al, 1987). To enable a data comparison from two experiments, data obtained on older mice and on pharmacologically treated mice were normalized to the means of values of younger and vehicle-treated 3-month-old mice, respectively.…”

Section: Experiments 2: Study Of Parameters Of Behavioral Despair Durimentioning

confidence: 99%

Anhedonic-like traits and lack of affective deficits in 18-month-old C57BL/6 mice: Implications for modeling elderly depression

Malatyńska

Steinbusch

Redkozubova

et al. 2012

Experimental Gerontology

103

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The prevalence of depression increases with aging. We hypothesized that like humans, old animals exhibit anhedonic-like behavior, along with signs of behavioral despair. In rodents, anhedonia, a reduced sensitivity to reward, which is listed as a core feature of major depression in the DSM-IVR, can be measured by a decrease in intake of and preference for sweet solutions. Here, sucrose intake, forced swimming, immobility in the modified tail suspension test, novelty exploration, grooming, anxiety and locomotor activity were compared in naïve 3-and 18-month-old male C57BL/6 mice. The absolute amounts and the ratio of consumed 1% sucrose solution to water intake was significantly smaller in 18-month-old mice than in 3-month-old mice. The consumption of 5%-sucrose solution requiring high levels of drinking effort, novelty exploration in two setups and grooming behavior in the splash test were reduced in older animals. Analysis of other behaviors suggested that the above-mentioned signs of anhedonic-like traits were unlikely to be attributable to the potential effect of aging on metabolic needs for water, taste perception, motor capabilities or the induction of essential anxiety and neophobia. A 4-week treatment with the antidepressant imipramine (7 mg/kg/day) or dimebon, a compound with suggested neuroprotective proneurogenic properties (1 mg/kg/day) restored sucrose intake and preference in 18-month-old mice. Meanwhile, young and old mice showed no differences in the parameters of behavioral despair evaluated in the forced swim and modified tail suspension tests. Thus, the behavioral profile of aged mice parallels that of humans with elderly depression, in whom the symptoms of hedonic deficits typically outweigh affective disturbances. The assessment of anhedonic-like traits with the sucrose preference test in 18-month-old mice will be useful in preclinical studies of elderly depression.

show abstract

The automated tail suspension test: A computerized device which differentiates psychotropic drugs

Cited by 198 publications

References 5 publications

Behavioral, neurochemical, and electrophysiological characterization of a genetic mouse model of depression

Behavioral, neurochemical, and electrophysiological characterization of a genetic mouse model of depression

Reduced Anxiety and Depression-Like Behaviors in Mice Lacking GABA Transporter Subtype 1

Anhedonic-like traits and lack of affective deficits in 18-month-old C57BL/6 mice: Implications for modeling elderly depression

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About