A novel test procedure for antidepressants was designed in which a mouse is suspended by the tail from a lever, the movements of the animal being recorded. The total duration of the test (6 min) can be divided into periods of agitation and immobility. Several psychotropic drugs were studied: amphetamine, amitriptyline, atropine, desipramine, mianserin, nomifensine and viloxazine. Antidepressant drugs decrease the duration of immobility, as do psychostimulants and atropine. If coupled with measurement of locomotor activity in different conditions, the test can separate the locomotor stimulant doses from antidepressant doses. Diazepam increases the duration of immobility. The main advantages of this procedure are the use of a simple, objective test situation, the concordance of the results with the validated "behavioral despair" test from Porsolt and the sensitivity to a wide range of drug doses.

The tail suspension test: A new method for screening antidepressants in mice

Biological basis of the behavior of sick animals

National High Blood Pressure Education Program.

The tail suspension test as a model for assessing antidepressant activity: review of pharmacological and genetic studies in mice.

http://clm.utexas.edu/mdlab/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/Neuron-2009-David.pdf

Neurogenesis-Dependent and -Independent Effects of Fluoxetine in an Animal Model of Anxiety/Depression

1. Mice when suspended by the tail will alternate between active attempts to escape and immobility. Immobility like that measured in the behavioral despair test is reduced by a wide variety of antidepressant agents. 2. The present paper describes a computerized version of this test (ITEMATIC-TST) which in addition to recording immobility measures the power of the movements. 3. Various tricyclic (amitriptyline, desipramine, imipramine), MAOI (clorgyline, moclobemide, nialamide, pargyline, toloxatone) and atypical antidepressants (bupropion, citalopram, indalpine, mianserin, nomifensine, viloxazine) were tested and compared with psychostimulants (d-amphetamine, caffeine), neuroleptics (chlorpromazine, haloperidol, sulpiride), anxiolytics (clobazam, diazepam) and agents acting on the cholinergic system (atropine, oxotremorine). 4. All antidepressants decreased the duration of immobility and most increased the power of movements. 5. The psychostimulants also decreased immobility but only amphetamine increased the power of movements. 6. Neuroleptics increased immobility without affecting the power of movements, whereas anxiolytics increased immobility but decreased the power of movements. 7. Atropine had a profile similar to antidepressants whereas oxotremorine tended to have opposite effects. 8. The results suggest that the automated test system with its two parameters is not only sensitive to antidepressants but could also be useful for generating activity profiles for different kinds of psychotropic agent.

The automated tail suspension test: A computerized device which differentiates psychotropic drugs

In mice tested for 60 min in photometer-activity boxes, an increased locomotor activity (+50% to +100%) was observed after administration of cocaine (4 mg/kg i.p.). Such hyperactivity was markedly enhanced by all benzodiazepines studied (flurazepam excepted), at doses which did not modify spontaneous motility: chlordiazepoxide (1 mg/kg), diazepam (1 to 2 mg/kg), clobazam (1 mg/kg), oxazepam (0.25 mg/kg), nitrazepam (0.03 to 0.25 mg/kg), flunitrazepam (0.015 mg/kg), clonazepam (0.004 mg/kg) and lorazepam (0.004 mg/kg). These doses are very low, e.g., 8 to 20 times lower than those required to antagonize the locomotor stimulation caused by cocaine. The increase of cocaine-induced hypermotility elicited by nitrazepam (0.125 mg/kg i.p.) was reduced or suppressed by impairing gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA)-ergic transmission with picrotoxin (0.25 mg/kg) or by blocking α or β adrenergic receptors with prazosin (1 mg/kg i.p.) or propranolol (4 mg/kg i.p.), respectively. At these doses neither picrotoxin, prazosin, nor propranolol modified the spontaneous locomotor activity or the hyperactivity induced by cocaine alone. These results suggest that benzodiazepines may exert their facilitatory activity on cocaine-induced hyperactivity by interfering with some central catecholaminergic processes either directly or through the involvement of a GABA-ergic link.

Raymond Chermat

Papers

The tail suspension test: A new method for screening antidepressants in mice

The automated tail suspension test: A computerized device which differentiates psychotropic drugs

A simple model for studying benzodiazepines: Potentiation of hyperactivity induced by cocaine in mice

Searching-Waiting Strategy: A Candidate for an Evolutionary Model of Depression?

Synthèses et activités psychotropes de 3,4-diarylpipéridines. Corrélation structure-activité et recherche d'une activité antihypertensive