Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) Mouse Model

Model Description
Major depressive disorder is a neurotransmitter imbalance disease characterized by GABA/glutamate dysregulation and hippocampal neurogenesis impairment. Our chronic stress-induced depression model replicates:
• Behavioral despair (validated by FST/TST)
• Anhedonia (sucrose preference <65% vs controls)
• Neuroinflammation markers (IL-6/TNF-α elevation)
Clinically translational for studying neurological comorbidities in CNS disorders.

 Applications
• Antidepressant drug screening (SSRI/SNRI efficacy validation)
• Neuroplasticity biomarker discovery (BDNF/TrkB pathway analysis)
• Stress-induced neuroinflammation mechanisms
• Gut-brain axis interaction studies

 Modeling Protocol —— Chronic Restraint Stress (CRS) Method

1. Apparatus: Custom ventilated restraint tubes (50ml conical centrifuge tube with 8×1.5mm air holes)

2. Procedure: Daily 6-hour restraint stress for 30 consecutive days (10:00-16:00 light cycle)

3. Humane endpoints: Immediate release if respiratory distress observed

4. Post-stress monitoring: Body weight tracking every 72h

 Validation & Endpoints

Data

1. Body Weight Measurement   

Body Weight Changes，* p < 0.05 vs control group

2. Ethology

Tail suspension test, forced swimming test, open field test, sucrose preference test, elevated plus maze ethology test.

Preference for sugar water, Note: * indicates p < 0.05

Figure 2. Immobility time in tail suspension test and open field test. ** indicates p < 0.01, ns indicates no significant difference.

Figure 3 Total Distance and Average Speed in the Open Field

Figure 4 Open field trajectory (control - left, model - right)