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Updated: Mar 28, 2026
The Forced Swim Test as a Model of Depressive-like Behavior
Published on: March 2, 2015
Sensitivity during the forced swim test is a key factor in evaluating the antidepressant effects of abscisic acid in
Cong-Cong Qi1, Yu-Mian Shu2, Fang-Han Chen2
1Key Laboratory of Arrhythmias, Ministry of Education of China, East Hospital, and Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, Tongji University School of Medicine, Shanghai 200120, China; CAS Key Laboratory of Brain Function and Diseases, School of Life Science, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230027, Anhui, China.
Abstract:
Abscisic acid (ABA), a crucial phytohormone, is distributed in the brains of mammals and has been shown to have antidepressant effects in the chronic unpredictable mild stress test. The forced swim test (FST) is another animal model that can be used to assess antidepressant-like behavior in rodents. Here, we report that the antidepressant effects of ABA are associated with sensitivities to the FST in mice. Based on mean immobility in the 5-min forced swim pre-test, ICR mice were divided into short immobility mice (SIM) and long immobility mice (LIM) substrains. FST was carried out 8 days after drug administration. Learned helplessness, as shown by increased immobility, was only observed in SIM substrain and could be prevented by an 8-day ABA treatment. Our results show that ABA has antidepressant effects in SIM substrain and suggest that mice with learned helplessness might be more suitable for screening potential antidepressant drugs.
