Beta-adrenergic receptor changes in learned helplessness may depend on stress and test parameters.

Behavioral deficits following inescapable stress (learned helplessness) may serve as an animal model of depression. Previous studies using foot-shock stress to induce learned helplessness and a bar-press test for the stress-induced behavioral deficit have found increased beta-adrenergic receptor density in the hippocampus of learned helpless rats. We replicated these experiments using a tail-shock stress and the shuttle-box test. In our experiments, rats that developed learned helplessness after inescapable stress did not demonstrate any significant differences in beta-adrenergic receptor density or affinity in the frontal cortex, cerebellum, or hippocampus compared to the nonhelpless rats, nor to the tested control rats. These results suggest that beta-adrenergic receptor changes in learned helplessness may depend on the specific stress and test procedures used.