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Screening antidepressants in the chick separation-stress paradigm
Matthew W Feltenstein1, Kenneth J Sufka
1Department of Psychology, University of Mississippi, Oxford, MS 38677, USA. feltens@musc.edu
Psychopharmacology
|March 22, 2005
Summary
The chick separation-stress model effectively identifies antidepressant efficacy in animal studies, showing sensitivity to various drug classes under both acute and repeated administration. This validates its use for anxiety research.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Behavioral Pharmacology
- Animal Models of Anxiety
Background:
- Antidepressants are effective for anxiety disorders, but few animal models respond to them.
- This limitation may stem from using only acute drug administrations in existing models.
Purpose of the Study:
- To validate the chick separation-stress paradigm as an animal model of anxiety.
- To assess the model's sensitivity to different antidepressant classes (MAOI, TCA, SSRI, NRI) under acute and repeated administration.
Main Methods:
- 8-day-old chicks were tested in a high-stress (no mirror) or low-stress (mirror) isolation setting.
- Sensitivity to phenelzine, imipramine, citalopram, and maprotiline was assessed after acute or repeated (3-6 days) pretreatment.
- Distress vocalizations and sleep onset latency were measured.
Main Results:
- The model was sensitive to acute phenelzine, imipramine, and maprotiline, but not citalopram.
- Sensitivity to these drugs persisted with repeated administration.
- No tested antidepressant exhibited sedative effects.
Conclusions:
- The chick separation-stress paradigm is a valid and useful animal model for anxiety.
- The model demonstrates sensitivity to antidepressants under both acute and repeated administration protocols.