Experimental methods for evaluation of psychotropic agents in rodents: II-Antidepressants
Bhattacharya, S.K.; Satyan, K.S.; Ramanathan, M.
Indian Journal of Experimental Biology 37(2): 117-123
1999
ISSN/ISBN: 0019-5189 PMID: 10641129 Document Number: 506072
Rodent models of clinical depression are extensively used for the evaluation of putative antidepressants. In the present review, the available experimental methods which can be utilized by most laboratories involved in preclinical screening of antidepressants, have been discussed. The methods have been categorized on the basis of induction of the depressive state or on the assumption that monoamine deficiency leads to depression. These methods have been critically validated in terms of efficacy of standard antidepressants in these tests and, in some cases, by the neurochemical basis of depression, namely, the deficient monoaminergic theory of clinical depression.