StressMatic: A Novel Automated System to Induce Depressive- and Anxiety-like Phenotype in Rats

Joana Martins-Macedo; António Mateus-Pinheiro; Cátia Alves; Fernando Veloso; Eduardo D Gomes; Inês Ribeiro; Joana S Correia; Tiago Silveira-Rosa; Nuno D Alves; Ana J Rodrigues; João M Bessa; Nuno Sousa; João F Oliveira; Patrícia Patrício; Luísa Pinto

doi:10.3390/cells12030381

StressMatic: A Novel Automated System to Induce Depressive- and Anxiety-like Phenotype in Rats

Cells. 2023 Jan 20;12(3):381. doi: 10.3390/cells12030381.

Authors

Joana Martins-Macedo^{1

2

3}, António Mateus-Pinheiro^{1

2

3}, Cátia Alves^{3

4}, Fernando Veloso^{1

2

5

6

7}, Eduardo D Gomes^{1

2}, Inês Ribeiro^{1

2}, Joana S Correia^{1

2

3}, Tiago Silveira-Rosa^{1

2}, Nuno D Alves^{1

2}, Ana J Rodrigues^{1

2}, João M Bessa^{1

2

3}, Nuno Sousa^{1

2

3}, João F Oliveira^{1

2

5}, Patrícia Patrício^{1

2

3}, Luísa Pinto^{1

2

3}

Affiliations

¹ Life and Health Sciences Research Institute (ICVS), School of Medicine, University of Minho, 4710-057 Braga, Portugal.
² ICVS/3B's-PT Government Associate Laboratory, 4806-909 Braga/Guimarães, Portugal.
³ Bn'ML-Behavioral & Molecular Lab, University of Minho, 4710-057 Braga, Portugal.
⁴ Department of Marketing and International Business, University of Vienna, Oskar Morgenstern-Platz 1, 1090 Vienna, Austria.
⁵ 2Ai-School of Technology, IPCA, 4750-810 Barcelos, Portugal.
⁶ LASI-Associate Laboratory of Intelligent Systems, 4800-058 Guimarães, Portugal.
⁷ Department of Mechanical Engineering, School of Engineering, University of Minho, 4800-058 Guimarães, Portugal.

Abstract

Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a multidimensional psychiatric disorder that is estimated to affect around 350 million people worldwide. Generating valid and effective animal models of depression is critical and has been challenging for neuroscience researchers. For preclinical studies, models based on stress exposure, such as unpredictable chronic mild stress (uCMS), are amongst the most reliable and used, despite presenting concerns related to the standardization of protocols and time consumption for operators. To overcome these issues, we developed an automated system to expose rodents to a standard uCMS protocol. Here, we compared manual (uCMS) and automated (auCMS) stress-exposure protocols. The data shows that the impact of the uCMS exposure by both methods was similar in terms of behavioral (cognition, mood, and anxiety) and physiological (cell proliferation and endocrine variations) measurements. Given the advantages of time and standardization, this automated method represents a step forward in this field of preclinical research.

Keywords: automated rack; preclinical research; protocols standardization; stress-exposure.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Animals
Anxiety
Cognition
Depressive Disorder, Major*
Rats

Grants and funding

This research was funded by Bn’ML—Behavioral and Molecular Lab and by the National Strategic Reference Framework (QREN). L.P. and F.V. were funded by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) (2020.02855.CEECIND to L.P.; SFRH/BD/131545/2017 to F.V.). This work was funded by the Nature Research Award for Driving Global Impact—2019 Brain Sciences (to L.P.). J.F.O. received funding from FCT (projects PTDC/MED-NEU/31417/2017) and POCI-01-0145-FEDER-016818; grants from Bial Foundation (037/18) and ”la Caixa” Foundation (LCF/PR/HR21/52410024) to J.F.O. A.J.R. was funded by the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program (grant agreement No 101003187), by “la Caixa” Foundation (ID 100010434), under the agreement LCF/PR/HR20/52400020, by FCT under the scope of the project PTDC/MED-NEU/4804/2020 (ENDOPIO). This work was also co-funded by the Life and Health Sciences Research Institute (ICVS); funded by ICVS Scientific Microscopy Platform, member of the national infrastructure PPBI—Portuguese Platform of Bioimaging (PPBI-POCI-01-0145-FEDER-022122); and funded by National funds, through the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT)—project UIDB/50026/2020 and UIDP/50026/2020.