Characterization of depressive behavior in mice exposed to chronic variable stress models

• Grant number: 23/14251-7
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: December 01, 2023
• End date: November 30, 2024
• Field of knowledge: Health Sciences - Medicine - Psychiatry
• Principal Investigator: Norberto Cysne Coimbra
• Grantee: João Willian Teixeira de Almeida
• Host Institution: Instituto de Neurociências e Comportamento (INEC). Ribeirão Preto , SP, Brazil

Abstract

We are conducting research to explore the behavioral variances observed in various strains of mice when exposed to snakes within a novel snake-enriched polygonal arena panic attack test (unpublished data). Our research investigates the impact of chronic stress, involving prolonged exposure to stressful conditions such as immobilization and repeated social stress encounters, on specific limbic regions associated with aversive memory, learning, and emotional responses. We hypothesize that alterations in behaviors related to depression, anxiety, innate, and conditioned fear may be linked to the mesencephalic roof regions, specifically the superior colliculus (SC) and the dorsolateral segment of the periaqueductal gray matter (SCPdl), which are known to be activated in prey animals when confronted by predators. The primary objective of our study is to assess depressive and anxiety-like behaviors in adult male mice of various strains using restraint and social defeat tests. We will begin by employing the restraint stress test (RST) and the chronic social defeat stress test (CSDS) as well as the sucrose splash test (ST) and the forced swim test (FST) to evaluate depressive-like behavior in male mice exposed to chronic stressors.