<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>In today's world, depression is one of the more prevalent forms of mental illness. According to WHO, about 10%-30% of all women and 7%-15% of all men are afflicted by depression at least once in their life-times. Today, depression is assessed to be affecting 350 million people. Regarding this issue, an important challenge for current psychopharmacology is to develop new, more effective pharmacotherapy and to understand the mechanism of action of known antidepressants. Furthermore, there is the necessity to improve the effectiveness of anti-depression treatment by way of bringing about an understanding of the neurobiology of this illness. In achieving these objectives, animal models of depression can be useful. Yet, presently, all available animal models of depression rely on two principles: the actions of known antidepressants or the responses to stress. In this paper, we present an overview of the most widely used animal tests and models that are employed in assessing antidepressant-like activity in rodents. These include amphetamine potentiation, reversal of reserpine action, the forced swimming test, the tail suspension test, learned helplessness, chronic mild stress and social defeat stress. Moreover, the advantages and major drawbacks of each model are also discussed.</p></abstract>

In today's world, depression is one of the more prevalent forms of mental illness. According to WHO, about 10%-30% of all women and 7%-15% of all men are afflicted by depression at least once in their life-times. Today, depression is assessed to be affecting 350 million people. Regarding this issue, an important challenge for current psychopharmacology is to develop new, more effective pharmacotherapy and to understand the mechanism of action of known antidepressants. Furthermore, there is the necessity to improve the effectiveness of anti-depression treatment by way of bringing about an understanding of the neurobiology of this illness. In achieving these objectives, animal models of depression can be useful. Yet, presently, all available animal models of depression rely on two principles: the actions of known antidepressants or the responses to stress. In this paper, we present an overview of the most widely used animal tests and models that are employed in assessing antidepressant-like activity in rodents. These include amphetamine potentiation, reversal of reserpine action, the forced swimming test, the tail suspension test, learned helplessness, chronic mild stress and social defeat stress. Moreover, the advantages and major drawbacks of each model are also discussed.

Using tests and models to assess antidepressant-like activity in rodents

Chair and Department of Pharmacology and Pharmacodynamics, Medical University of Lublin, Chodzki 4A, 20-093 Lublin, Poland

Student Research Group at the Chair and Department of Pharmacology and Pharmacodynamics, Medical University of Lublin, Chodzki 4A, 20-093 Lublin, Poland

Current Issues in Pharmacy and Medical Sciences

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

{"article-title":"Using tests and models to assess antidepressant-like activity in rodents"}

In today's world, depression is one of the more prevalent forms of mental illness. According to WHO, about 10%-30% of all women and 7%-15% of all men are...

Using tests and models to assess antidepressant-like activity in rodents

Published Online: Jun 08, 2016

Page range: 61 - 65

Received: Feb 08, 2016

Accepted: Mar 10, 2016

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/cipms-2016-0013

Keywords
depression, animal models, atidepressants

© 2016 Ewa Kedzierska et al., published by De Gruyter Open

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Using tests and models to assess antidepressant-like activity in rodents

Published Online: Jun 08, 2016

Page range: 61 - 65

Received: Feb 08, 2016

Accepted: Mar 10, 2016

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/cipms-2016-0013

Keywordsdepression, animal models, atidepressants

© 2016 Ewa Kedzierska et al., published by De Gruyter Open

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Keywords
depression, animal models, atidepressants