Depression & Sexual Function – Forced Swim Test in Rodents
When rats or mice are forced to swim in a deep cylinder with tepid water they become nearly immobile and cease trying to escape. Immobility is reduced when rats and mice are treated with a wide variety of antidepressants. Immobility in a swimming tank was initially conceived of as “behavioural despair” by Porsolt. Other views were that immobility is an attempt at conserving energy or an evolutionary preserved coping strategy where immobility represent the psychological concept of “entrapment” described in clinical populations. Rodent models of depression are mainly based on predictive validity, objectivity of measured response and their high reliability and reproducibility.
Acute administration of the SSRI sertraline (20 mg/kg; ip) reduces time spent immobile in DBA/2J and Balb/c mice.
In Sprague Dawley rats, pretreatment with tricyclic antidperessants like desipramine decrease immobility and increased climbing behaviors. On the other hand, pretreatment with selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors such as fluoxetine decrease immobility and increased swimming behaviors.
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In Sprague Dawley rats, pretreatment with the serotonin norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor venlafaxine (80 mg/kg; ip) decreases immobility and increases climbing behaviors.
In Sprague Dawley rats, pretreatment with the triple reuptake inhibitor DOV21947 (20 mg/kg; ip) decreases immobility and increases both swimming and climbing behaviors.
