How to establish an animal model of depression caused by long-term mental stress?

  Objective: To establish an animal model of depression with long-term mental stress.

  Method: C57BL/6J mice weighing 4 weeks (11.05±1.65) g were selected and randomly divided into control group and long-term mental stress stimulation (LTMS) group. Due to 3 hours of electric shocks and 12 hours of lack of sleep a day, the LTMS group was kept in a cage for 21 days. The experimental group determined whether the modeling was successful by measuring changes in food intake, increase in cross-maze experiments, field experiments, and changes in forced swimming behavior.

  Result: Compared with the control group, the food intake of the LTMS group was significantly reduced (P\u003c0.01), and the duration of forced swimming was significantly prolonged (P\u003c0.01). In the field test, the number of crossing grids and the number of posts in the LTMS group were significantly less than those in the control group, and the difference was very significant (P\u003c0.01). In the elevated cross maze experiment, the residence time of the closed arm of the LTMS group was significantly longer, and the difference was very significant (P\u003c0.01), while the entry rate of the open arm was lower and the difference was large. Significantly (P\u003c0.05).

  Conclusion: The long-term psychological stress model shows symptoms of despair, reduced activity, loss of interest, anxiety and depression, and can be used as a depression model.