Fig. 1: Twelve days of chronic unpredictable stress (CUS) drives a battery of depressive- and anxiety-like behaviors in adult male mice.
a Pre-CUS body weights of 9–10 weeks old control and CUS males (n = 25 per group). b CUS induces weight loss in adult males (Student’s t-test; P = 0.0001; n = 25 per group; error bars, s.e.m.). c Food consumption of control and CUS males normalized to body weight (Mann–Whitney U-test; P = 0.0021; n = 10 controls, n = 9 CUS). d CUS decreases sucrose preference in male mice relative to controls (Mann–Whitney U-test; P = 0.0004; n = 18 controls, n = 20 CUS). e Liquid consumption of control and CUS males normalized to body weight (Mann–Whitney U-test; P = 0.004; n = 18 controls, n = 20 CUS). f CUS increases severity of coat scores relative to controls (Mann–Whitney U-test; P = 0.002; n = 15 per group). g CUS decreases nest scores relative to controls (Mann–Whitney U-test; P = 0.01; n = 15 per group). h CUS males show a trend toward enhanced immobility in the tail suspension test (Student’s t-test; P = 0.067; n = 14 controls, n = 15 CUS). i CUS males show decreased percent time spent in the open arms of the elevated zero maze (Student’s t-test; P = 0.0017; n = 15 per group). Representative tracks obtained from video-tracking software are shown on the right. Closed arms are shaded in grey. j CUS males show decreased percent time spent in the center of the open field arena (Student’s t-test with Welch’s correction; P = 0.03; n = 14 controls, n = 15 CUS) without k altered locomotor activity (Unpaired t-test; P = 0.5; n = 14 controls, n = 15 CUS). Representative tracks obtained from video-tracking software are shown in the middle, with the boundaries of the center of the arena demarcated in red. *P < 0.05; **P < 0.01; ***P < 0.001; ****P < 0.0001. Error bars represent s.e.m. and statistical tests were two-sided unless stated otherwise. Source data are provided as a Source data file.
