Examine the forced swim test and sucrose preference test as simple tests of behavioural despair in a rodent animal model of depression, and evaluate the efficacy of nAChR agonists, antagonists, and ligand agonists as a supplement to the commonly prescribed antidepressant fluoxetine.
1.1 Rationale & specific goals
The forced swim test (FST) and sucrose preference test (SPT) are commonly used behavioural experiments that are low cost, simple to implement, require no training of subjects, and can be analysed both between and within groups, therefore provide an initial foundational assessment of rat behaviour in response to neurochemical manipulation.5,6,8 In the FST, subjects are placed into an inescapable transparent water tank to induce behavioural …show more content…
The transparent cylindrical tanks are constructed of Plexiglas, and the water level is maintained at 30 cm from the bottom for all subjects. If the head of a subject becomes submerged, the observer will intervene and raise the rat out of the water, ending the trial. Following each swimming session, the subjects are dried, and returned to their home cage. Overall activity may vary between rats. A separate test of general locomotion, an open field test (OFT), will be administered to all subjects one day following successful completion of the FST, as a separate behavioural assessment to exclude non-specific locomotor effects. …show more content…
Factorial analysis of repeated-rat FST by Mazadri et al. (2011) has shown that re-testing rats throughout the time-course of FLX treatment is efficacious for detecting both short and long-term pharmacological effects, reducing the necessary number of subjects.36 Subjects used to assess acute treatment will be re-tested with subsequent chronic FLX treatment. Following specific drug treatment (see below), each subject will be be lowered into the water tank for 15 minute intervals at five separate times: one day prior to testing (pre-test), Days 2, 10, 19, and 28. (Table 1) Only the last 14 minutes will be scored for movement, as the effects of treatment may be obscured during the first minute when the majority of rats are very active.2,4,6 In experiment 1, subjects are given the five FST without pharmacological interference. (Table 1) In experiment 2, subjects will undergo a pretest on Day 1, and then will receive one subcutaneous (sc) injection (acute treatment) of 0.2 ml of saline vehicle (VEH), FLX, NIC, MEC, or LOB, administered 30 min before the start of the 15 min FST on Day 2. Afterwards, subjects of the aforementioned groups will receive a daily (chronic) treatment of 0.2 ml VEH, FLX, NIC, MEC, or LOB, respective to their acute treatment, for 28 days. On Days 10, 19, and 28, all injections will be performed 30 min before the onset of the FST. To assess
1.1 Rationale & specific goals
The forced swim test (FST) and sucrose preference test (SPT) are commonly used behavioural experiments that are low cost, simple to implement, require no training of subjects, and can be analysed both between and within groups, therefore provide an initial foundational assessment of rat behaviour in response to neurochemical manipulation.5,6,8 In the FST, subjects are placed into an inescapable transparent water tank to induce behavioural …show more content…
The transparent cylindrical tanks are constructed of Plexiglas, and the water level is maintained at 30 cm from the bottom for all subjects. If the head of a subject becomes submerged, the observer will intervene and raise the rat out of the water, ending the trial. Following each swimming session, the subjects are dried, and returned to their home cage. Overall activity may vary between rats. A separate test of general locomotion, an open field test (OFT), will be administered to all subjects one day following successful completion of the FST, as a separate behavioural assessment to exclude non-specific locomotor effects. …show more content…
Factorial analysis of repeated-rat FST by Mazadri et al. (2011) has shown that re-testing rats throughout the time-course of FLX treatment is efficacious for detecting both short and long-term pharmacological effects, reducing the necessary number of subjects.36 Subjects used to assess acute treatment will be re-tested with subsequent chronic FLX treatment. Following specific drug treatment (see below), each subject will be be lowered into the water tank for 15 minute intervals at five separate times: one day prior to testing (pre-test), Days 2, 10, 19, and 28. (Table 1) Only the last 14 minutes will be scored for movement, as the effects of treatment may be obscured during the first minute when the majority of rats are very active.2,4,6 In experiment 1, subjects are given the five FST without pharmacological interference. (Table 1) In experiment 2, subjects will undergo a pretest on Day 1, and then will receive one subcutaneous (sc) injection (acute treatment) of 0.2 ml of saline vehicle (VEH), FLX, NIC, MEC, or LOB, administered 30 min before the start of the 15 min FST on Day 2. Afterwards, subjects of the aforementioned groups will receive a daily (chronic) treatment of 0.2 ml VEH, FLX, NIC, MEC, or LOB, respective to their acute treatment, for 28 days. On Days 10, 19, and 28, all injections will be performed 30 min before the onset of the FST. To assess