梁氏情境应激箱对小鼠抑郁样行为的诱导作用

Depression-like behaviors induced by Liang’s contextual-stress box in mice

目的观察和比较梁氏情境应激箱对小鼠抑郁样行为的诱导作用,对其表观效度进行评价。方法将小鼠放入4种不同应激环境中15 min,随后采用饮糖偏爱实验、社交行为实验、新奇抑制摄食实验以及强迫游泳实验,评价4种情境应激环境对小鼠抑郁样行为相关指标的影响。结果①与饲养鼠笼、正方形箱和三角形箱3种情境应激环境相比较,梁氏情境应激箱处理显著性降低ICR小鼠的饮糖偏爱率。此外,间隔3 d重复3次给予梁氏情境应激刺激仍能明显抑制小鼠的饮糖行为;②ICR和KM小鼠属于远交系动物,而C57BL/6J小鼠为近交系动物。梁氏情境应激箱处理对3种小鼠的社交行为均具有明显的抑制作用;③梁氏情境应激箱处理对小鼠新奇抑制摄食实验中进食潜伏期和强迫游泳实验中不动时间未见明显影响。结论梁氏情境应激箱处理可产生特定的情境应激反应,引起小鼠典型的抑郁样行为表现。作为一种新的抑郁动物模型及其实验方法,具有良好的表观效度。

OBJECTIVE To observe and evaluate the effects of treatment with Liang′s contextualstress box on depression-like behaviors in mice,and determine its face validity.METHODS Mice were placed individually into four different stress environments and allowed to explore freely for 15 min.Then,depression-like behaviors induced by different stress environments were tested by sucrose preference test(SPT),social interaction test(SIT),novelty-suppressed feeding test(NSFT)and forced swimming test(FST).RESULTS①Treatment with Liang′s contextual-stress box could significantly reduce sucrose preference in ICR mice compared with the groups of the homecage,square box,and triangle box.Importantly,ICR mice were repeatedly placed into Liang′s contextual-stress box three times at an interval of 3 days,which could still inhibit its drinking sucrose solution;②the environment stress produced by Liang′s contextual-stress box could obviously inhibit social interaction in the mice of both the outbred strain(ICR and KM mice)and inbred strain(C57 BL/6 J mice);③the effects of treatment with Liang′s contextual-stress box on immobility time in FST and latency to feeding in NSFT were not remarkably observed in ICR mice.CONCLUSION Liang′s contextual-stress box may work as one means of special stimulation of contextual stress that can induce some definitive depression-like behaviors in mice,which is of good face validity as a new experimental method and animal model for depression.