Citation

van der Heyden JA, Molewijk E, Olivier B. Psychopharmacology 1987; 92(1): 127-130.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1987, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

3110823

Abstract

The effects of several types of antidepressants in a recently developed "behavioural despair" model, the tail-suspension test, are described. Drug effects on the automatically recorded duration of immobility and power of movements were measured in three strains of mice. Only in one strain (NMRI) did almost all antidepressants tested showed the expected reduction in duration of immobility. Tranquillizing drugs, but not stimulants, could be distinguished from antidepressants. The power of movements could not definitively be related to the pharmacological profile of the drugs tested. The use of the tail-suspension test as a rapid and highly predictive behavioural primary screen for antidepressant drugs is suggested.

Language: en