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Updated: May 8, 2026
Social Isolation Model: A Noninvasive Rodent Model of Stress and Anxiety
Published on: November 11, 2022
[An animal model establishment of social stress and its effect evaluation]
Xiao Wu1, Jin-Feng Wu, Jing-Cheng Dong
1Department of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine, Huashan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai 200040, China.
Objective:
To establish a social defeat stress model for simulating the human mental disease, thus laying a foundation for in-depth laboratory research on depression.
Methods:
Eight C57BL/6J mice (abbreviated as C57 mice) were recruited as the stress group. They were subject to psychological stress of social defeat for 10 successive days. Besides, another 8 C57 mice were selected as the normal control group (receiving no stress). The Noldus Ethovision was used to evaluate the depressive behavior of mice. The date was acquired in the case of with or without aggressive CD-1 mice in the social defeat open field (SDOF), and it included the two groups of mice's trajectory in the SDOF and the first time of the two groups of mice's entry into the interactive area of the SDOF, the residence time of the two groups of mice in the interactive area of the SDOF, the first time of the two groups of mice's entry into the corner areas of the SDOF and the residence time of the two groups of mice in the corner areas of the SDOF. All data were used to analyze the changes in the behavior of the C57, mice, thus inferring the psychological changes of C57 mice.
Results:
The mice in the social stress group showed significant behavioral differences when compared with the normal control group. Their trajectories in the interactive area of the SDOF were significantly reduced. The trajectories of the mice in the social stress group were mainly distributed in the corner areas of the SDOF and its surrounding area within the smaller range. The residence time of mice in the social stress group in the interactive area of the SDOF was shortened (P < 0.05). The first time for the mice in the social stress group to enter the interactive area of the SDOF was extended (P < 0.05). Their residence time in the corner areas of the SDOF was shortened (P < 0.05). The first time for mice in the social stress group to enter the corner areas of the SDOF was extended (P < 0.05).
Conclusion:
An animal model of depressive behavior can be established by social defeat stress, which was consistent with human depression.
