Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 13, 2026
Animal Models of Depression - Chronic Despair Model (CDM)
Published on: September 23, 2021
Imipramine reverses the depressive symptoms in sepsis survivor rats
Lisiane Tuon1, Clarissa M Comim, Moises M Antunes
1Laboratório de Neurociências, Programa de Pós-Graduação Ciências da Saúde, Universidade do Extremo Sul Catarinense, 88806-000 Criciúma, Brazil.
Objective:
To evaluate the antidepressant effect of imipramine on depressive symptoms observed in sepsis survivors rats.
Design And Setting:
Prospective, controlled experiment in an animal basic science laboratory.
Subjects:
Male Wistar rats weighing 300-350 g.
Interventions:
The rats underwent cecal ligation and perforation (CLP; sepsis group) with "basic support" (saline at 50 ml/kg immediately and 12 h after CLP plus ceftriaxone at 30 mg/kg and clindamycin at 25 mg/kg 6, 12, and 18 h after CLP) or sham-operated (control group). After 10 days of recovery rats received intraperitoneal injections of imipramine 10 mg/kg or saline and were subjected to the forced swimming test.
Measurements And Results:
The observed increase in the immobility time in the forced swimming test in animals subjected to CLP, as a parameter of depressive behavior, was reversed by imipramine.
Conclusions:
The depressive symptoms evaluated by forced swimming test had been reversed after imipramine administration. Our data provide evidence that CLP-induced depressive symptoms are sensitive to antidepressants.
