Assessment time affects the outcome of the tail suspension test

作者：Mohrbacher Nicole; Hofstetter John^*; Mayeda Aimee

来源：Biological Rhythm Research, 2011, 42(4): 299-302.

DOI：10.1080/09291016.2010.505455

• mouse
• tail suspension test
• antidepressants
• sleep/wake cycle

The mouse tail suspension test (TST) is a method to screen antidepressants. Antidepressants reduce the amount of time spent immobile during the TST. A confounder in the TST is tail-climbing. The vast majority of studies using the TST perform the test during the mouse's sleep cycle. We hypothesized that mice would spend less time immobile in their wake cycle than in their sleep cycle. One strain of mouse, C57BL/6J (B6), spent more time immobile in its wake cycle than in its sleep cycle. A second strain of mouse, DBA2/J (D2), spent less time immobile in its wake cycle than in its sleep cycle. Both strains of mice were more likely to climb their tails in the wake cycle than in the sleep cycle. Our findings suggest that the outcome of the TST is affected by the assessment time; this is likely applicable to other behavioral assessment tests.

• 出版日期2011