This is another acute behavioral test used to assess antidepressant-like effects of drugs.
Mice are allowed to swim for 5 or 6 minutes per day after they have been given treatments. The experiment was repeated daily for 7 days. How long one waits after drug administration before beginning the FST depends on the nature of drug given and the route of administration. Generally, one can wait for about 15 to 30 minutes before beginning the FST if drugs were given by intraperitoneal, subcutaneous or intramuscular route to mice. For oral route, one can wait for about 30 to 60 minutes. Immobility behavior is measured as an index of depression.
A. Weigh the mice to determine doses to administer. B. Randomly assign mice into groups based on the treatment (n=8). Each animal must be identified by indelible non-poisonous ink or by by color codes to ensure there is no mix up. C. Administer drugs or extracts by oral route unless otherwise specified. D. Wait for about 1 hour if drug/ extract was administered by the oral route. The time must be consistent throughout.
NOTE: STEPS A TO D are not necessary if TST was done before the FST. However, in case FST is done first, then those steps are important.
E. While waiting, fill the transparent glass or plastic container with water to the height of 13 cm.
F. Set up the camcorder above these containers so it can capture the behavior of each animal placed in the containers.
G. Before placing the animal in the water individually, start the camcorder and record the group to be tested in the video before placing the animal in the water. The group should be coded so that it is not clear to the observer who will do the tracking the type of treatment given.
H. Allow the animals to swim for 6 minutes without being seen making noise.
I. Repeat this procedure for all animals.
J. Dry animals with paper towel after each swim session before returning it to the home cage. This will prevent hypothermia in the animals
K. Repeat steps C-J daily for 7 days.
L. The recorded videos are given to a blinded observer who tracks the animal behavior and analyzes the immobility score of each animal. The blinded observer does not know the treatment given except the behavior to measure.