Abstract
Despite overall extensive use of various chronic stress models in mice during the past decades, the reproducibility of induction of anhedonia and a depressive-like syndrome with this method remains to be dissatisfying. Generally, this is related to problems of stable induction of a depressive-like state (according to a selected criterion) and limitations of behavioral methods detecting depressive-like state in animals. Here, we focus on the first part of the problem. A number of evidences suggest that in mice, the ability of different chronic stress protocols to evoke a depressive-like syndrome and anhedonia, defined by a decrease in sucrose preference, depends on the stress impact of the stress procedure. Data obtained in C57BL/6 strain show that anhedonia could be induced with chronic stress procedures of such intensity and duration, which result in a reduction of body weight. Though, chronic stress protocols, which do not cause a loss of body mass, evoke other behavioral effects in mice, as for instance, increased scores of anxiety and locomotion. In C57BL/6 mice, these behavioral changes occur also with anhedonia-inducing stress regimens. They appear in stressed individuals both susceptible and resilient to depressive-like changes, i.e., without relation to a presence of anhedonia and depressive-like syndrome. Together, these data, first, suggest that behavioral effects induced by chronic stress should be interpreted with a caution while attempting to model depressive symptoms in mice. Chronic stress can evoke general “non-specific” behavioral changes that do not imply an induction of a depressive-like phenotype in rodents. Second, obtained findings led to consider the control over a stress load during the chronic stress experiment as a reasonable approach of ensuring the reproducibility with induction of anhedonia and depressive-like syndrome in mice. The data on inter-batch fluctuation of behavioral traits and stress-response, generally described in laboratory mice, further suggest an importance of a control/moderation of the stress load, with either above-proposed or other validated criteria. We propose a reduction of weekly evaluated body weight and immediate after-stress hypoactivity as criteria of stress load, optimal for anhedonia induction, in C57BL/6 mice. Thus, adjustment of a stress procedure to the characteristics of behavioral stress response observed in a tested batch of animals, instead of using once-defined stress protocol could be a reasonable strategy while aiming at higher reproducibility with chronic stress depression paradigms in mice.
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Acknowledgments
We would like to thank Profs. Raymond Cespuglio and Peter Gruss, Drs. Oleg Dolgov, Barbara Maier, Careen Schroeter, and Martti Valilla for their contribution. Material used in the introduction and Figs. 9.2 and 9.3 (adapted from Strekalova T. Optimization of the chronic stress depression model in C57 BL/6 mice: evidences for improved validity. 2008 In: “Behavioral models in stress research. Volume I”. Eds. Kalueff A. and LaPorte J. pp. 111–157) is reproduced accordingly to the permission of Nova Science Publishers, NY, USA. Material shown in Fig. 9.4 is presented as significantly modified graphic representation of the data, partly published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, Behavioral Pharmacology, Strekalova T, Gorenkova N, Schunk E, Dolgov O, Bartsch D. “Selective effects of citalopram in the mouse model of stress-induced anhedonia with control effects for chronic stress”. 2006;17:271–287.
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Strekalova, T., Steinbusch, H. (2009). Factors of Reproducibility of Anhedonia Induction in a Chronic Stress Depression Model in Mice. In: Gould, T. (eds) Mood and Anxiety Related Phenotypes in Mice. Neuromethods, vol 42. Humana Press, Totowa, NJ. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-60761-303-9_9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-60761-303-9_9
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