Figure 1: Chronic unpredictable mild stress procedure and drug treatment.
From: Plasminogen Activator Inhibitor-1 in depression: Results from Animal and Clinical Studies
After one week of acclimation, rats were randomly assigned to the following two groups: CUMS and normal. CUMS rats were exposed to chronic mild stress for four weeks and then subjected to three behavioural paradigms (SPT, FST, OFT tests). Only the rats that exhibited depressive-like behaviours in at least two of the three tests were chosen for the following experiments. At the beginning of week five, we randomly allocated the stressed rats to the following two groups: CUMS + saline (CS, n = 6/group) and CUMS + escitalopram (CE, n = 6/group). Meanwhile, the normal controls were also divided into the following two groups: normal+ saline (NS, n = 6/group) and normal + escitalopram (NE, n = 6/group). For a total of 4 weeks, the CS and CE groups were exposed to stressors and received saline or escitalopram treatment, and the NS and NE groups received saline or escitalopram treatment. Then, all of the rats were subjected to the three behavioural paradigms. Then, we collected the cerebrospinal fluid and serum and dissected brain regions for biochemical tests. CUMS: chronic unpredictable mild stress procedures; SPT: sucrose preference test; FST: forced swimming test; OFT: open-field test.
