Learned helplessness (a model of depression-like state) was developed in rats by exposure to repeated inescapable electric stimulation and evaluated by the absence of attempts to escape when it could be performed. In randomly grouped outbred white rats, 37.5% animals after the above procedure meet the criterion of learned helplessness. On experimental day 14, the latent period and the number of applied electric shocks prior to the first escape to the safe compartment in rats with learned helplessness were significantly higher than in the control, but no significant differences in these parameters were observed on day 21. The Porsolt forced swimming test performed on days 14 and 21 revealed no differences from the control group. After the rats were divided into low- and high-active subgroups according to their open field behavior, 35% rats with learned helplessness were in the low-active subgroup group and 30% rats with learned helplessness were in the high-active subgroup. On day 14, the parameters of learned helplessness significantly surpassed the control levels only in the low-active subgroup. Only in rats with learned helplessness and low activity in the open field, the immobility time in the Porsolt test was longer than in control low-active rats. These findings attest to advisability of preliminary splitting of outbred animals by their open-field behavior into low- and high-active subgroups and the use of only animals for modeling learned helplessness.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
Seredenin SB, Voronina TA, Neznamov GG, Blednov YuA, Badyshev BA, Viglinskaya IV, Kozlovskaya MM, Kolotilinskaya NV, Savel’ev VL, Garibova TL, Valdman EA, Yarkova MA. Pharmacogenetic concept of anxioselective effect. Vestn. Ross. Akad. Med. Nauk. 1998;(11):3-9. Russian.
Seredin SB, Voronina TA, Neznamov GG, Zherdev VP. Phenazepam: 25 Years in Medical Practice. Moscow, 2007. P. 278-343. Russian.
Shalyapina VG, Vershinina ЕА, Rakitskaya VV, Rizhova LYu, Semenova МG, Semenova ОG. Alteration of active and passive Wistar rats adaptive behavior in water-immersion model of depression. Zh. Vyssh. Nervn. Deyat. 2006;56(4):543-547. Russian.
Shalyapina VG, Rakitskaya VV, Petrova EI. The role of corticotropin-releasing hormone in alteration of adaptive behavior of the active and passive rats after inescapable stress. Zh. Vyssh. Nervn. Deyat. 2005;55(2):241-246. Russian
Ho YC, Wang S. Adult neurogenesis is reduced in the dorsal hippocampus of rats displaying learned helplessness behavior. Neuroscience. 2010;171(1):153-161.
Nam H, Clinton SM, Jackson NL, Kerman IA. Learned helplessness and social avoidance in the Wistar-Kyoto rat. Front. Behav. Neurosci. 2014;8. ID 109. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnbeh.2014.00109
Padilla E, Barrett D, Shumake J, Gonzalez-Lima F. Strain, sex, and open-field behavior: Factors underlying the genetic susceptibility to helplessness. Behav. Brain Res. 2009;201(2):257-264.
Padilla E, Shumake J, Barrett DW, Holmes G, Sheridan EC, Gonzalez-Lima F. Novelty-evoked activity in open field predicts susceptibility to helpless behavior. Physiol. Behav. 2010;101(5):746-754.
Shirayama Y, Hashimoto K. Lack of antidepressant effects of (2R,6R)-hydroxynorketamine in a rat learned helplessness model: comparison with (R)-ketamine. Int. J. Neuropsychopharmacol. 2018;21(1):84-88.
Shirayama Y, Yang C, Zhang JC, Ren Q, Yao W, Hashimoto K. Alterations in brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and its precursor proBDNF in the brain regions of a learned helplessness rat model and the antidepressant effects of a TrkB agonist and antagonist. Eur. Neuropsychopharmacol. 2015;25(12):2449-2458.
Söderlund J, Lindskog M. Relevance of rodent models of depression in clinical practice: can we overcome the obstacles in translational neuropsychiatry?. Int. J. Neuropsychopharmacol. 2018;21(7):668-676.
Zaninotto L, Solmi M, Toffanin T, Veronese N, Cloninger CR, Correll CU. A meta-analysis of temperament and character dimensions in patients with mood disorders: Comparison to healthy controls and unaffected siblings. J. Affect Disord. 2016;194:84-97.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Translated from Byulleten’ Eksperimental’noi Biologii i Meditsiny, Vol. 170, No. 8, pp. 183-187, August, 2020
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Kotel’nikova, S.O., Sadovsky, M.S., Krayneva, V.A. et al. Assessment of Susceptibility of Outbred Albino Rats to the Formation of Depression-Like State of Learned Helplessness. Bull Exp Biol Med 170, 215–218 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10517-020-05036-9
Received:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10517-020-05036-9