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Animal Models for Investigating the Symptoms of Depression and the Mechanisms of Action of Antidepressant Drugs

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Animal Models in Psychopharmacology

Part of the book series: APS: Advances in Pharmacological Sciences ((APS))

Summary

The list of putative animal models of depression is now quite extensive. The prominent behavioural features of animal models of depression are: decreased or increased locomotor activity; decreased motivation; decreased social contact; impulsivity; and decreased sensitivity to rewards (anhedonia). Of these symptoms, only anhedonia realistically models a core symptom of depression. Most models feature only a single behavioural symptom. The two psychological procedures most frequently used to generate animal models of depression are stress and social isolation. In rodents, stress (typically inescapable footshock) causes a variety of antidepressant-reversible behavioural impairments, including anhedonia. Models of stress-induced anhedonia are reviewed, and evidence is presented that anhedonia may be induced by chronic exposure to very mild stressors. This procedure causes a decrease in the consumption of rewarding sucrose solutions and the failure of a variety of rewards to support conditioned place preferences. These impairments reflect a dysfunction of dopamine transmission in the nucleus accumbens; antidepressants act in this model by potentiating transmission at dopamine synapses. The effects of social isolation have usually been studied ethologically. However, social isolation also impairs performance in a test of cooperative social behaviour. This impairment, and its reversal by antidepressants, appears to involve serotonergic rather than dopaminergic mechanisms. This dissociation may have important clinical implications.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, City of London Polytechnic, Old Castle St, London, E1 7NT, UK

    Paul Willner & Richard Muscat

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  1. Paul Willner
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  2. Richard Muscat
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. CNS-Pharmacology, Duphar B.V., P.O. Box 900, 1380 DA, Weesp, The Netherlands

    B. Olivier  & J. Mos  & 

  2. Department of Psychopharmacology, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Utrecht, Sorbonnelaan 16, 3584 CA, Utrecht, The Netherlands

    J. L. Slangen

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© 1991 Springer Basel AG

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Willner, P., Muscat, R. (1991). Animal Models for Investigating the Symptoms of Depression and the Mechanisms of Action of Antidepressant Drugs. In: Olivier, B., Mos, J., Slangen, J.L. (eds) Animal Models in Psychopharmacology. APS: Advances in Pharmacological Sciences. Birkhäuser, Basel. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-0348-6419-0_16

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-0348-6419-0_16

  • Publisher Name: Birkhäuser, Basel

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-0348-6421-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-0348-6419-0

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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