Correlations between behavior of mice in Porsolt's swim test and in tests of anxiety, locomotion, and exploration.

This study examined whether the behavior of male NIH Swiss mice in a putative animal model of depression, Porsolt's swim test, is related to that in other behavioral tests. The other tests were the plus-maze test of anxiety, the holeboard test of exploration and locomotor activity, and a test of seizure threshold to bicuculline. The immobility of the mice in the swim test did not correlate with their behavior in any of the other tests used. The only significant correlations found occurred between individual measures in the holeboard and plus-maze tests. The data suggest that immobility in the swim test is not related to behavior in the tests of anxiety, directed exploration, locomotor activity, or seizure threshold.