Fig. 5: The transplantation of the bedding mediated depression contagion without stress transmission.

The two groups of naive mice received bedding from depressed mice and healthy mice, respectively. Behavioral and corticosterone tests were conducted after the scheduled time (A). After a duration of 5 weeks, the sucrose preference percentage in ND was found to be lower compared to that in NC (B), but no differences were found in the tail suspension test (C) and serum corticosterone levels (D). (Group NC consisted of naive mice housed in bedding from healthy mice, while Group ND comprised those housed in bedding from depressed mice. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001, n = 8) (Created in BioRender. BioRender.com/a24n235).