Hall F S, Huang S, Fong G F, Pert A
National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, Laboratory of Clinical Studies, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA.
J Neurosci Methods. 1998 Jan 31;79(1):47-51. doi: 10.1016/s0165-0270(97)00155-6.
Although the forced swim test (FST) has long been used as a preclinical screen of antidepressant efficacy, locomotor stimulants are known to produce confounding effects using the traditional dependent measure in this test: immobility. It has recently been suggested that measurement of struggling behavior may be a better index of antidepressant activity. The present experiments examined behavior in the forced swim test in two potential animal models of depression: the Fawn hooded rat, and the isolation-reared rat. No evidence was found to support these assertions, indeed immobility was decreased in Fawn hooded compared to Wistar rats, however this appeared to be caused by increased struggling behavior in Fawn hooded socials and increased swimming in Fawn hooded isolates. Although these differential results are highly suggestive of different underlying causes of decreased immobility in Fawn hooded rats depending on rearing conditions, the data suggests that the underlying psychological functions assumed to be represented by behavior assessed in this paradigm may not be adequately discriminated.
尽管强迫游泳试验（FST）长期以来一直被用作抗抑郁疗效的临床前筛选方法，但已知运动兴奋剂在该试验中使用传统的相关测量指标（不动时间）会产生混淆效应。最近有人提出，测量挣扎行为可能是抗抑郁活性的更好指标。本实验在两种潜在的抑郁症动物模型中研究了强迫游泳试验中的行为：小鹿帽鼠和隔离饲养的大鼠。没有证据支持这些说法，实际上，与Wistar大鼠相比，小鹿帽鼠的不动时间减少了，然而这似乎是由小鹿帽鼠群居组的挣扎行为增加以及小鹿帽鼠隔离组的游泳行为增加所致。尽管这些差异结果强烈暗示了小鹿帽鼠根据饲养条件不动时间减少的不同潜在原因，但数据表明，在该范式中评估的行为所假定代表的潜在心理功能可能没有得到充分区分。
