In the CSDS model, a C57BL/6J mouse is repeatedly subordinated by a larger,

aggressive CD-1 mouse for 10 consecutive days (Golden et al., 2011). Each physical bout is followed by overnight sensory contact with the aggressor through a plastic partition. Following CSDS, approximately 2/3 of experimental mice, termed “susceptible,” develop a constellation of depression-like behaviors including social avoidance and anhedonia (Krishnan et al., 2007 and Donahue et al., 2014) as well as metabolic syndrome marked by dysregulated feeding peptides, weight gain and insulin insensitivity (Chuang et al., 2010 and Lutter et al., 2008). Conversely, the remaining 1/3 of mice, termed “resilient,” develop a much milder phenotype, including elevated corticosterone and increased anxiety-like behavior (Krishnan et al., 2007). Similar to human depression, CSDS-induced depression- and anxiety-like behavior

AC220 price can be reversed by chronic, but not acute, administration of antidepressants (Berton et al., 2006 and Tsankova et al., 2006). Importantly, a number of biomarkers identified in humans with MDD are similarly disrupted in susceptible mice following CSDS, further highlighting its utility in studying depression mechanisms (Krishnan et al., 2007, Golden click here et al., 2013 and Robison et al., 2014). The learned helplessness (LH) model is an acute stress paradigm that, similar to CSDS, produces heterogeneous responses, enabling researchers to delineate stress susceptible and resilient animals (Krishnan and Nestler, 2011). The proportion of animals exposed to the

LH paradigm that demonstrate phenotypic resilience ranges from 10% to 80% (Cryan and Mombereau, 2004). In this model, rodents are exposed to repeated inescapable foot shocks followed by a test period in which an easy escape mechanism is made available during shock exposure. Compared to control animals trained with escapable shocks and resilient animals, susceptible animals demonstrate “helplessness,” measured as longer escape latency or failure to escape (Seligman and Beagley, 1975). Like CSDS, the LH paradigm produces numerous behavioral for and physiological changes including weight loss, HPA axis dysfunction, circadian alterations, and reductions in hippocampal synaptic spine number (Krishnan and Nestler, 2011). A weakness of the model is that LH-induced changes are short-lived, usually lasting only 2–3 days and can be reversed with acute antidepressant treatment (Cryan and Mombereau, 2004). Appropriate response to stress involves the coordinated activity of the autonomic nervous system (ANS) and the HPA axis as well as the neural circuits in the hypothalamus, brainstem and forebrain that control their activity (for a comprehensive review, see Ulrich-Lai and Herman, 2009).