Prenatal stress in rats predicts immobility behavior in the forced swim test: Effects of a chronic treatment with tianeptine

doi:10.1016/S0006-8993(03)03293-1

Brain Research

Volume 989, Issue 2, 7 November 2003, Pages 246-251

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0006-8993(03)03293-1 Get rights and content

Abstract

Prenatally-stressed (PS) rats are characterized by a general impairment of the hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and sleep disturbances indicating that this model has face validity with some clinical features observed in a subpopulation of depressed patients. The prolonged corticosterone secretion shown by PS rats in response to stress was positively correlated with an increased immobility behavior in the forced swim test. To investigate the predictive validity of this model, a separate group of animals was chronically treated with the antidepressant tianeptine (10 mg/kg i.p. for 21 days). Such chronic treatment reduced in PS rats immobility time in the forced swim test. These findings suggest that the PS rat is an interesting animal model for the evaluation of antidepressant treatment.

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Acknowledgements

This study was supported by the Belgian FRSM and FNRS, the European Commission, the University of Lille I and by IRIS.

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Citation Excerpt :
This study is the first to indicate that alcohol exposure prior to implantation and well before brain development begins, increases offspring immobility during the FST in both males and females. Immobility in this test has been considered to be representative of a depressive-like phenotype, also known as “behavioural despair” in rodents (Alonso et al., 1991), a claim supported by studies demonstrating a reversal of the behaviour with the treatment of antidepressants (Morley-Fletcher et al., 2003). The depressive-like phenotype observed in PC:EtOH offspring is consistent with studies of prenatal alcohol exposure at other developmental stages; alcohol exposure from E8 to birth or from E1 to postnatal day 10 have both been shown to result in increased immobility in male and female offspring (Brocardo et al., 2012; Wilcoxon et al., 2005).
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Short communicationPrenatal stress in rats predicts immobility behavior in the forced swim test: Effects of a chronic treatment with tianeptine

Abstract

Section snippets

Acknowledgements

Jpn. J. Pharmacol.

Pharmacol. Biochem. Behav.

Biol. Psychiatry

Psychoneuroendocrinology

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Eur. Neuropsychopharmacol.

Biol. Psychiatry

Physiol. Behav.

Biol. Psychiatry

Psychiatry Res.

Neuropharmacology

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Prog. Neuropsychopharmacol. Biol. Psychiatry

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Eur. J. Pharmacol.

Prog. Neurobiol.

Action of antidepressant drugs on maternal stress-induced hypoactivity in female rats

Methods Find. Exp. Clin. Pharmacol.

Controlled comparison of tianeptine, alprazolam and mianserin in the treatment of adjustment disorders with anxiety and depression

Hum. Psychopharmacol.

Maternal glucocorticoid secretion mediates long-term effects of prenatal stress

J. Neurosci.

Short communication
Prenatal stress in rats predicts immobility behavior in the forced swim test: Effects of a chronic treatment with tianeptine