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Chronic corticosterone treatment does not elicit depression‐like behavior in adolescent rats
Author(s) -
Meyer Teresa Jo,
Smith Stephanie R.,
Middlemas David S.
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.26.1_supplement.lb509
Subject(s) - corticosterone , major depressive disorder , antidepressant , open field , behavioural despair test , depression (economics) , psychology , anxiety , animal models of depression , behavioral syndrome , neurogenesis , elevated plus maze , medicine , endocrinology , psychiatry , neuroscience , mood , hormone , social psychology , macroeconomics , personality , economics
Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) is a debilitating emotional disorder that affects people of all ages. The etiology of MDD is unknown and the mechanisms of action of antidepressant drugs are not well understood. MDD affects adolescents differently than adults. Furthermore, adolescents respond differently to antidepressant drugs. Recently, an animal model of MDD involving repeated corticosterone (CORT) injections in adult rats has been reported. This model elicits not only a behavioral change congruent with MDD, but also shows a depressed rate of hippocampal neurogenesis, a potential marker of MDD. However, to our knowledge, no such model of MDD exists for adolescents. The purpose of our study was to establish a model of MDD in adolescent rats. Male Sprague‐Dawley rat pups were injected with 30 mg/kg CORT or vehicle for 29 days, followed by behavioral testing. The elevated plus maze, used to detect anxiety‐like behavior, and the open field test, used to detect changes in locomotion, found no differences between rat pups treated with CORT or vehicle. The forced swim test, used to detect depression‐like behavior, also found no differences in behaviors between CORT treated and vehicle treated rats. Our results indicate that exogenous CORT treatment does not induce depression‐like behavior in adolescent rats and would not serve as a sufficient adolescent model of MDD. Research support provided by the ATSU Graduate Program.